Chicago 2040: Action 1
by steelraven
Summary: Part One of the story of the Steel Ravens. The niece of a prominent Genom exec comes to the city, and finds the job offer that brought her there is more than she bargained for...
1. Questions...No Answers

=

**Bubblegum Crisis: Chicago 2040**

This work of fiction is ©1999-2001 by the members of the Chicago 2040 RPG, all rights reserved worldwide. Characters and concepts from the ADV anime Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040 are used under the fair use clause of copyright law. Duplication and reposting is only allowed with the express prior permission of the group. Other characters and concepts from other copyrighted works are used for parodic purposes.

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Questions, No Answers  
_Intro/Bio by Shaine. Individual rating of PG for language._

_Seven years ago..._

Shaine Kohl really, really wanted to just hack into her professor's files and be done with it.

_Howinhell..._ Pencil between teeth, she stared at the misbehaving program. _No EOF? I'll kick yo' ass, stupid file!_ It was too late to do anything about it...if her father even caught her up that late, he'd have a fit. 

_I don't care if he beats me for it. I have to finish this program!_ The only high school student in the class, she had a hell of a lot to prove in order to even get her professor to admit he might pass her.

She took a large swig of her Sobe cranberry-grapefruit, then cut and pasted the code into a new window.

It compiled. Damn! 

She saved to a new disk, then shut down the computer and crawled upstairs. It was 2:36. She was sound asleep by 3AM.

Not too long afterward, she snapped back into consciousness without knowing why. Dazed, she realized she'd heard something...something she shouldn't have responded to. _Kathy...help..._ The plea was followed by a soft _thump_.

She shouldn't have been so sensitized to hearing her mother's name, but it was no time to think about that. _Dad?_

Evon Kohl lay on the kitchen floor, wheezing. He'd never been truly healthy, but this was far worse than anything Shaine had seen before.

Hustled back into the bedroom before she could say anything about it, Shaine lay there trying to hear what was going on. Every once in a while there was a dull moan so it couldn't be Really Bad. But he sounded like he felt like a sack of shit being hit by a bag of bricks.

It didn't really hit her for another hour or so. _You know...he could actually _die. _What would I do?_

Her eyes were rimmed with red and her hands were twitchy by the time her alarm clock started beeping.

///

Hair hanging in her face, Shaine tore through the contents of the refrigerator. _Great _day. She never got a chance to pack her lunch the night before, and now she couldn't find anything to put in it! Professor Janssen had _better _give her a good grade after all of the suffering she went through for him.

_Someone_ drank all my cranberry-grapefruit! 

"Yeah," Evon said. "Tastes like hell."

She froze.

"Well? Aren't you going to ask what it said on the cap?" 

She'd been pestering the entire family with those Sobe sayings for years on end. "What?" 

"Sobe Wan Kenobe. Now let's get to work." Forgetting everything else, she pulled a frozen dinner out and stuffed it into her bag. The Boomers were an absolute pain when they caught someone coming in late, as any employee of Genom could testify.

///

Uncle Erik was so dense sometimes, but Shaine was grateful for it that day.

"C'mon, I'm gonna be late for class!" 

Erik looked up at her from his seat by the computer terminal. "You get off at five like the rest of us and you may as well work until then" 

She pouted expressively, as if to say that she was too impatient to work. "So what's the problem?" He pointed down toward the keyboard and she leaned closer.

"Now," he whispered, "I hear they won't give you a login because you're a summer hire. I can't tell you my password or I could lose my job, but..." 

He gestured toward the keyboard again and started typing, slowly and deliberately, with his hands drawn away from it as much as possible. Her eyes widened.

From that day forward, hacking Genom was easier than she could ever have imagined...

_Three years ago..._

Shaine heaved the last bag of junk from her dorm into her bedroom and ran back into the den. Star Trek: Mariner on the big screen...yeaaahhhhhh, that was what vacation was _for!_ Just a rerun, to be sure, but it was the episode where Dal goes back to Rachael!

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Erik and her mother outside. They seemed to be arguing. Yeesh. She didn't want to pay too much attention to _that._

She was lucky that her birthday just happened to be during spring vacation. Presents, a real bath with bubbles in an actual tub...Dal and Rachael locking lips on the big screen...

Awwww, yeahhhhhh... She just didn't see what Rachael had seen in Caden. Or why Dal had gotten pissed off at her.

The door slammed and Kathy Kohl walked in. "Hi, mom. Want me to turn it off?"

"No, go ahead."

"Where's Dad?" 

"He went to get your present." 

"Isn't it a little late for that?" 

"There was one thing we weren't sure if we could get on time...they called him this morning and said it was in. Didn't sound like the bookstore, though." 

"Oh." 

She gave up hoping for an actual conversation and just stared at the TV.

///

He wasn't back the next day, and everyone seemed nervous. Well, not much to be done about that. Shaine firmly put it out of her mind, convincing herself that he was just trying to make some sort of stupid dramatic entrance.

One more present, and it was from Uncle Erik. Shaine tore through the wrappings. 

_ElfQuest!_

She held it up, the same book that her father had supposed to have gotten for her. She didn't see the odd look on her mother's face.

///

Two months later, Evon Kohl was still missing. After the initial rush of press coverage and intrusive police inquiries, it faded to a dull ache.

Shaine was still working at Genom.

On her first day back after finals, odd-looking men in black suits filtered through the maze of cubicles. She felt the oddest sense of deja vu...

"Miss Kohl...?" 

_Oh, shit._

///

"We've had our eye on you for some time, Ms. Kohl. It seems you have been living..."

He paused for dramatic effect, and was utterly surprised when she finished the sentence for him in the same bland voice. 

_"Two _lives." Shaine stopped just long enough to savor the expressions on the men's faces. "In one life, you are Thomas A. Anderson, program writer for a respectable software company. You have a social security number, you pay your taxes, you pet your dog, you eat your spicy chimichangas.

"The other life is lived in computers, where you go by the hacker alias Neo, and are guilty of virtually every computer crime we have a name for... Whaaaat? Haven't you seen 'The Matrix'?"

The lead MIB stared at her blankly.

"All right. You can prosecute the shit out of me and _maybe _get something, or you can find out everything I've done to your system, good and bad, and then just fire me". 

A pink slip had never looked so good.

_Two months ago..._

Erik gritted his teeth as he saw who had just entered the room. "Carter." 

"Have you made any progress on the new weapons yet?" 

"No." He sullenly refused to say more.

"You realize that the success of the project depends on -" 

"I'm working on it!" he snapped.

A diminutive Boomer with layered brown hair and bright blue eyes walked in with a tray. Erik pointed to the desk; she set down the teapot and cups she'd carried in and left quickly. Even the machines knew to leave him alone when he was in these moods, Carter noted.

"I have...a few ideas. And possibly a person to help me realize those ideas." 

Carter smiled sweetly. "Good. You wouldn't want to wind up second again...would you." 

As soon as the door had closed behind her, he threw a teacup at it.

///

_Bill, bill, catalog, bill, Windows patch, ads, bill... _Shaine suddenly stopped rifling through the mail as she came to an odd package. It was a disk mailing sleeve...3.5 . Whoinhell used those anymore? 

There was no return address. She tore into it and pulled out a disk. No labels on that, either. She tipped the package upside down and a piece of paper fluttered out:

_Just a little favor. Be a sweet girl and find this for me...  
Uncle Erik_

She frowned. How odd...

///

Getting into Genom Tokyo was like slicing hot butter. Too bad she couldn't find anything there. All of the records had to be offline somewhere...damn, these Knight Sabers had to be hot! There were a few hints of how hot, in the unemptied Recycle Bin of a man named Mason, but the big find came only when she gave up on Genom and broke into the AD Police mainframe. Some sort of hotshot desk pilot on that end gave her a hard time, but with a bit of effort she managed to recover some deleted files. She burned a CD and had the bubble-wrap-filled envelope labeled when her computer chimed.

She had mail.

That could be a coincedence...

Or it could be some Genom official who'd broken through her security, found her real IP address, and tracked her from there. Or, worse, the Knight Sabers themselves. She sealed the envelope and stuck it in the mail, then called up her mail program.

Nothing to do but face it and hope these Sabers weren't any better than Genom.

///

"Oh, Eeeeevon..." Erik was nearly dancing as he rounded the corner with the CD. "Look what _I_ got in the mail!" 

Evon Kohl spared a weary glance for his brother and then returned to his work. Hair gone prematurely grey - well, not all _that _prematurely - and glasses seemingly much thicker than they had been not too long before, he looked the elder of the two by about ten years, if not more. "Carter is going to have our heads if we don't finish soon." 

"That doesn't matter." Erik slid the disc into the drive. "Look at this." 

Hardsuit schematics started to pour over the screen. "What the hell is that?" 

"A Knight Saber hardsuit. All the rage in Tokyo. I hear they're even becoming popular over here..." 

_"Ritterniedersäbeln? _Here? How?"

"It doesn't matter," Erik said firmly. "We can deal with it. All we need is one of those hardsuits." 

"And how do you propose to get one?" 

"Faster than Carter can. That's how." 

_Later..._

"Shaine Kohl, Technology Coordinator?" 

"Um...yeah? I'm kinda busy right now..." That was an understatement. Her job at Starbright was undoubtedly the most complicated she'd ever had...but it was a job, and it stood between her and Genom's wrath. 

"So...what kind of technology do you coordinate?"

Fortunately a rather unbeautiful industrial Boomer was just passing by. _"That,_" she said, and pointed. While the idiot was still recovering, she grabbed her laptop and started to walk out. Couldn't afford to be late, not then.

Passing another Boomer in the hall, she quickly left the building and then ran to her car.

"Shaine! Whereinhell were you?" 

"Never mind, Crimson. I'm here now. What is it this time?" 

"A personal assistant Boomer. Should be an easy one." 

_Aw, shit...easy? You said that about the last one..._ But she didn't say anything.

Minutes later, a black hardsuit streaked across the sky of Chicago.

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	2. The Offer

The Offer

The Offer  
_By Shaine and Shatterclaw. Individual rating of PG for language and violence._

It was a job offer. From Starbright Industries in Chicago. Shaine thought for a moment...no. She couldn't remember any tech stock symbols for Starbright Industries. Had to be a startup. Or a front. FBI, Genom, anyone she'd pissed off in the past eight or so years.

She memorized the phone number, then packed up a few essentials - change of clothes, toothbrush, laptop - and took them out to the car. She sure as hell wasn't going to lead Starbright Industries back to her home. She drove to Birmingham, then parked not too far from a pay phone.

Crowd looked normal. Right. Midmorning, no school-age children, a few business suits...mostly looked like affluent housewives shopping for baubles and trinkets. She picked up the phone.

The weight of an unregistered Miyako in her left pocket reassured her as she used a fake phone card number and connected to the mystery number.

"United Airlines, how may I help you?" The voice was female, young...a bit too sweet. Shaine immediately decided not to trust her.

"Yeah, I got a reservation for a flight..." She rustled some papers to mask the sound of a passerby with a cell phone. "Number 327 to Chicago." 

"Name, please?" 

"Lore Mueller." It was the alias she'd used on that particular e-mail account, as well as all the records that could possibly lead back to her from the Genom/ADP hack.

She turned her back to the phone and started scanning the crowd for misfits as the airline operator stalled. It was taking too long.

"I'm sorry, but we have no reservations under that name." 

"Try Kohl. The reservation was booked by some startup computer company in Indiana; they must have gotten hold of a resume with my maiden name on it."

"Ah, yes, we do have one for a Miss Kohl." Damn! Whoever it was, they had some real talent working for them... "Would you like to pick up your ticket or should I have it delivered to you?" 

"Bring it here." She rattled off an address in Eastpointe, just outside Detroit. Scummy neighborhood...but that was why she had her second apartment there.

"They'll be there by 1pm today."

"Thanks." She hung up quickly. _One...that leaves me just enough time to clean out the apartment, pack it all in the trunk, and ride. _She thought about leaving a note for her boyfriend...but...no. It was all but over anyway.

She left a time-delayed e-mail from several of her accounts - including a new one - to Erik, saying that if he got the message something had happened to her. She could delete it once she found out what was going on. It was tough going trying to lift her monitor...ahhhhh...screw it. She could get a new one; all she really needed was the CPU and her disks. Besides, she had the laptop.

She arrived early. No one there. She headed back up to Gratiot and 8 Mile, made a few cue balls dizzy at her old pool hall, then returned. It was almost one.

She saw a young man in his twenties...physique that said I love chocolate. Shaine let her left hand drift toward her pocket. Uh, you know where I can find... The address was that of her apartment.

"Yeah. It's right over there." He walked up and rang the bell. Damn. She was going to have to sign for it, wasn't she? "I live there. You coulda asked." 

He went on ringing the bell.

"Want me to open the door and prove it?" She brandished her keyring as if it were a magical talisman.

"You Miss Kohl?" 

"Um....yeah." She still didn't feel comfortable letting the opposition - enemy? - know so much about her. "My maiden name, actually." 

"Whatever. Sign here." 

She took the clipboard, bracing it with her left arm so that she could let it drop at a moment's notice, and signed choppily with her right hand. With any luck the signature would be inadmissable, as she didn't normally write with her right hand and it looked nothing at all like the way she normally signed things. Her left hand twitched...but Chocolate Boy was just swaying gently on his feet, not preparing to rush her. She shoved the clipboard back at him, then retreated a step and slid her hand into her pocket. 

"Thanks," he said disinterestedly, and gave her the ticket. Then he held out his hand.

Tip. Right. She pulled a wadded-up five out of her right pocket.

After watching the pudgy courier leave on his motorcycle, she headed for a nicer neighborhood and spent the rest of the day window shopping. Her flight wasn't until ten the next morning. She then got a fitful night's rest at a nearby motel, unpacking only the computer equipment so that it would not get cold in the trunk, and arrived at the airport an hour early.

The Boomer at the United desk cheerily informed her that the flight was leaving out of terminal three, and gave her an envelope.

A cautious distance away from the desk, Shaine opened it. A cash card...presumably for her expenses. She checked the amount at a nearby ATM and was suitably impressed.

///

Several delays later, Shaine arrived in Chicago at 1:30. She checked into the hotel that Starlight had chosen, considering it a necessary risk, then plugged in. What better way to start off a visit to a new city than with a visit to the local Genom subsidiary? Genom Chicago proved considerably tougher than Genom Rochester or Genom Windsor...Shaine stopped without breaking their firewall; she was hungry.

She saw the note with Starbright's phone number on the desk just before she dialed room service. Better call while she was thinking about it. Too lazy to bother anything more, she pulled out her own cell phone and used a fake caller ID. After several minutes of being on hold, during which her stomach joyfully rediscovered its musical talents, she was transferred to an office number. 

"Veldez speaking. How may I help you?" 

"I'm calling about the job offer. Name's Kohl." 

"Ah, yes. Miss Kohl. I'm glad you called. You come highly recommended." _By whom?_ But she kept her mouth shut. "Could you perhaps make it to our offices tomorrow...mmm, around 11am?" 

"Sure. Just give me the address." 

It was downtown, in the underground shopping plaza. Veldez thanked her and hung up, polite but very much to the point. Shaine grabbed the room service menu and ordered. Four hours later, the entire floor was covered by plates, papers, disks, clothing, and crumbs. Shaine lay on the floor by her laptop, figuring out routes to and from the Starbright Building.

Oh, damn - she forgot about the message. She deleted every copy of the time-delayed come help me e-mail and decided to send Erik something more sociable. Minutes later, she had a reply. He wanted to meet her for lunch the next day, after her interview. 

She chuckled at the last line:

_I sincerely hope that you will not consider it necessary to do to Genom Chicago what you did to Genom Windsor. Love, Erik._

Just then the phone rang. It was Erik. "Thought I couldn't track you down? HAH! I got you!" 

"Eriiiiik!" She sounded genuinely delighted.

"So, where you going tomorrow?" 

"Some company called Starbright Industries." 

"Those tree huggers?" He sighed. "If you insist. You can take the B EL down there; it's probably the easiest way." 

"The Bel? You mean like Captain Thorne from the Vorkosigan saga?"

Erik laughed out loud at that one. "The Bullet El. It's kind of like the DPM." 

"Oh, okay. I'm jiggy with Da People Mover." 

"Only takes ten minutes or so. You get off at State Street." She knew that much from her planning, but she just thanked him and promised not to get lost on the way to lunch. After several minutes worth of closing remarks and endearments, she hung up. Good thing she'd left that until a_fter_ she finished eating.

On the way to the meeting, Shaine was impressed by the apparent change in the downtown area. She'd never been to Chicago, but of course she had seen images of the destruction caused when satellite weapons accidentally opened fire on the city. Genom's intervention had transformed the area from a hollowed-out shell into a thriving center of business.

It was a bit like the Eaton's Center in Toronto...one giant underground mall filled with stores and offices that couldn't afford to open their doors aboveground. Shaine passed stores selling clothing, jewelry, several sorts of domestic Boomers... She promised herself to come back to some of them later.

Inside the lower level of the Starbright Foundation Building was a simple desk and what appeared to be five or six elevator tubes. The doors opened by themselves. The guard smiled and asked if he could help her.

"I'm here to see Ms. Veldez." 

"Third tube. Take it to the top floor." 

It took about five minutes. When the doors opened, Shaine was blinded by the bright light inside the office. The walls were made of large glass panes and most of the rest of the room was glass, at least as much of it as she could see.

When her eyes adjusted, she saw a large circular desk, behind which sat a green-haired woman. She repeated her request to see Veldez.

"Please have a seat. She'll be with you in a moment." 

Fifteen minutes later, a woman in a tan Euro business suit stepped into the room. Shaine rose as the woman walked toward her. "Miss Kohl?" 

"Yes?" 

"I'm Saki Veldez." She appeared to perhaps have some Japanese blood as well as Hispanic. Her hair was red with a white streak near the front. "Would you like something to drink before we get started?" 

"No, thank you." 

She got straight to business. "I received your resume from a colleague at Genom."

"Oh?" 

"Yes...he said that you were very skilled." 

"Ahhh...I think I know who _that _may be." 

"Your network administration skills are most impressive. We are opening a new system research wing, and thought that you would be perfectly suited for it. Also, we are looking for a consultant for our web design group." 

"To be honest, I had no intention of leaving Michigan at this time. I'm not sure if I'm interested." Shaine could tell that Veldez was holding something back.

"Well...yes, this is a bit abrupt. However, we believe we can offer sufficient compensation. To be specific, full medical and dental plans including coverage of alternative medicine, a wonderful 401k plan, corner offices, and a starting pay of $35,000 a year." 

Shaine had followed the woman's speech appreciatively until that last figure. "Thirty-five? That's standard industry starting pay! I may not have a college degree, but I suggest you take a second look at my resume." 

"Good to see that you have some fire...what would you consider more acceptable? Perhaps $75,000?" _Either she's very stupid, or she's baiting me. What the hell is she playing at?_

"Ahhhh...I think that would be more acceptable." 

"And how about this?" She scribbled a figure on a piece of paper: _$80,500_.

"Very acceptable indeed..." 

"Well, then! What can I tell you about our modest little corporation?" 

"I'm not familiar with the name. A local company?" 

"Not as local as we may seem. We have branches in every major city in the world, and as of this week we own over 55% of the natural-growing farms in the world and are in the forefront of bioengineered foods...as well as heading up a large investment firm." 

"Not in the computer industry, then... I see." 

She was turning frosty...but still interested by the money. "Not per se," Saki answered quickly. "While our main output is food, there is a growing need to stay ahead of our competition...making it necessary for us to keep up to date with technology. That's where you come in." 

"How large of a group would I be working with? How much training have they had?" 

"What we currently have in place is an up-to-date system...and the desire to keep that edge. What we do not have is a team to maintain it. That team would be hand-picked by you. We would be prepared to pull them from any department or subsidiary, or to hire new employees." 

"And this system...are we talking about production? Inventory?" 

"Both, there. The system covers all of our endeavors from start to finish and is fully integrated." 

"I must admit...it's been awhile since I've worked with the hardware interfacing angle. MetaPara would not, of course, let me have the source code for its proprietary Boomer algorithms." 

"I think you'll find us to be a bit more open. And more than able to bring you up to speed. One of our subsidiaries repairs Boomers..." Her voice turned dark. "Which seems more and more demand as increasing numbers of Boomers go rogue..." Then, suddenly, she was back to her normal tone of voice. "In fact, if that's where you wish to begin, I can arrange to put you on the team that is heading up that new project." 

"Not...not quite." she said quickly. "I'm in the business more for the pure software. Networking and such." 

"Ah, well. Maybe later." 

"Of course," but her face gave a far different answer.

"How well do you work with custom software?" 

"That's no issue. I consulted with some others on Novell's latest release, and most of them seemed to have an aversion to proper documentation." She sounded wryly amused.

"And how well do you deal with custom-built systems and their unit hardware?" 

"Depends on the hardware. Like I said, MetaPara kept me in the dark. Also, I think I should mention that I'm not going to be writing on the Opcode level. You want that kind of code wizard, you look elsewhere." 

"Then let me come show you what we have in store..." She stood, holding out her arm. Shaine followed, watching Veldez use some sort of ID card to open the doors of another elevator. A few minutes later, the doors opened again onto a hall which ended in a pair of glass doors. Veldez opened one with a swipe of the card, and lead Shaine down another hallway to a large bay window. "This window overlooks our mainframe. We don't use any standard system, so it is larger than most. At the current time, we are using a bilingual OS." 

It didn't look like anything Shaine had ever seen, save the one time she passed by the ENIAC, encased in glass at the University of Michigan and guarded like it was made of diamond... "That will make things interesting. Is the OS based on another system?" 

"Ah, yes. It's similar to the one used by SiliconGraphics, or so I'm told. Would you like to look it over?" 

"Sure." _Irix, how I have loved you...so did they kluge and hack the OS together or is she just talking out of her ass?_

Another hall, another glass door...another swipe of the card. This time there was an retinal scan as well, and a code to be punched in. A staircase lay on the other side.

Saki logged Shaine in, and the operating system came up. Shaine pulled up a dialog window and began typing quickly. She brought up several control panels, looked them over...resisted the urge to curse. They were larger than expected - larger, in fact, than the company would need for years. It was the most powerful system Shaine had ever seen.

"Well, I can't tell too much just by looking at this...but whoever ha- aaah, modified the OS for you seems to have known what they were doing." 

"Well, we have some very talented people working for us!" Saki smiled.

"I see. Quite impressive." Shaine easily managed to slip in a few back door mechanisms which would allow her to study it later...on her own terms.

A smaller dialog popped up. _Do you want to play a game?_

"Hm? What's this?" Shaine tried to look puzzled, when actually it was the first thing she'd expect. Bigger computer, better gaming. No surprise. "I think your last programmers had a little too much fun on the job... Well. Might as well look it over." She started the game.

It was a first-person shooter, not too unlike Quake. A cartoon-like Boomer ran toward the screen and Shaine easily shot it down. More came at her, their speed increasing. She smiled. _Software engineers...they're all alike. Well, the men are anyway._ She kept pace with the program as it sped up more, the Boomers getting larger...

Shaine frowned. They were getting _damned _big. The screen suddenly acquired a reddish tint.

One down, two to go... Saki, standing behind her, was absolutely rapt.

"You really need a joystick for these games...but then it's not like anyone is supposed to b--" She jumped and swore under her breath in German. "What was that?" 

"I think that one shot at you," Saki replied, quite amused.

"Yeah..." 

"There, you got it back!" But she lost her last life on a three-headed Boomer. By that point she had forgotten where she was.

"Aw, shit! That was great! It's been too long..." She chuckled and put her feet up. "I remember back in college...I used to be able to whip all the sorry little engineering frat boys..." 

"Well, if you like, perhaps we could transfer it to your workstations." 

"Oh! Ahhhhh...well, you know, it's never quite the same once it ends..." She wilted.

"To be honest, I'd like to know who put it there." 

"I think I may be able to do that for you..."

"Yes, please." 

"I can at least nail it down to a specific terminal...then we see who was logged in." She frowned. "That's odd..." 

"What is it?" 

"I think you may want to have a little talk with your previous employees. The logs have been erased." 

"I see." Saki narrowed her eyes. "Is there any way you could backtrack it?" 

"Depends. If they were erased, I can probably dig them out. If it's been security wiped..." 

"Please try," Saki said, apparently unaware that Shaine had already started. Moments later, Shaine clapped her hands and did a sort of waist-up touchdown dance as a list of files appeared on the screen.

"There! It should still be in this mess..." 

"...Have you found it...?" 

"Here. I've got an IP address... You use static IPs here, so it should be no problem to track that back to a terminal...aha! Terminal 2300." 

"Hm...that should be on floor 1002."

"I'm getting a long list. With the information I recovered, you should be able to match the date and time on the execution file to a time when one of these people was at the terminal." 

"Thank you." 

Shaine leaned back and put her feet up again.

"Now, regarding your employment here...are you interested?" 

"I'll...have to think about it." 

"Please, take your time!" 

"I expect to be in Chicago for another day or two...certainly that will be long enough." 

"That will be fine." She handed Shaine a business card. "If you have any questions, please feel free to call." 

"Of course." 

///

Shaine stepped off of the B EL and into a district with...well...intimidating looks. The restaurant was just ahead, and the tall figure in front of it...

"Erik! Over here!" She waved, then watched his eyes play over her. She was wearing one of his outfits...he smiled.

Once she was close enough, he swept one arm around her and escorted her in. She leaned against him a little, enjoying it even if it was flattery. He felt a twinge in the arm but covered it up with another indulgent grin, squeezing her shoulder gently. "Guten Tag, Prinzessin," he whispered. The same expensive suits, the same hollow worship...yes, it was Erik all right, and it felt like being home again.

The menu shook her out of that feeling: an appetizer alone cost as much as a full slab of ribs back at her favorite place in Mt. Clemens. She immediately decided to skip straight to dessert and told Erik as much.

"I'm afraid I can't do that anymore..." He patted his slightly rounded stomach, which was probably all muscle beneath the finery. "Someday, my child, this beer belly will be yours.." 

They ordered, and Shaine asked for a Coke with her death wish in chocolate. Erik gave her a funny look, but she held her ground. He got the usual and asked the waitress Boomer if they had any Warsteiner.

"I don't know, sir." 

"Will you check for me?" 

"Yes, sir." 

The beer arrived as requested with the rest of the meal. "So, darling...why exactly are you here? Not just to talk to those liberal wussies, are you?" 

"Of course not. I just simply couldn't keep away from you for so long..." She was pouring it on thick, but he pretended to be pleased with the answer. "I know you gave them my name just to get me to come." 

"I didn't give them your name." 

"Hm. That's odd." 

"I'd like to know who did, then! They mentioned Genom?" 

"Yeah." 

Erik's questions became more pointed, then. He covered it up with more flattery and compliments on her work on the Genom Tokyo and ADP hacks.

She took a large sip of her drink, then set it down again. It was less than half full by now. Erik began to tip his beer bottle toward it, giving her little time to react.

"Don't." 

He did anyway. She frowned and resolved not to touch it...until she began to get thirsty again. She could feel every ridge on her chapped lips...well, maybe one sip.

Soon it was nearly empty and she considered calling the waitress back. But the next time she looked at the glass it was nearly half full again.

"You know...Genom made a huge mistake when you were fired." 

"I wasn't actually fired. I agreed to leave after they found out about-- She glanced around the room. You know." 

"They ought to know by now that the rules don't apply where success is concerned." 

Shaine suddenly began to feel dizzy.

"Are you all right?" 

"I'm not sure..." 

"Let me take you back to the hotel. You can get some rest. The past few days must have been tiring." 

///

As Shaine clumsily grabbed the back door of the car, she noticed someone already inside it. The secretarial Boomer smiled and gathered up a scattering of papers to make room for her.

"Ah - Susan, why don't _you_ drive." 

The Boomer placed the papers on the front passenger seat and got out of the car as Shaine reached for the seat belt. Erik caught her hand and slid in next to her. He placed her arm around him, making it nearly impossible to be comfortable without lying her head on his chest. Too dazed to resist, she did so.

Erik mentally cursed Carter for giving him a chaperone at a time like this. It was a delicate situation already, with that damned Birdman, and he didn't want to take any chances that he didn't have to.

///

"Are you sure you don't want me to walk you to your room?" He was so close that Shaine could feel his breath on her cheek.

"I'm sure. She didn't need him to babysit her...even if she was getting ready to pass out..."

"Maybe I was wrong," Erik murmured. "You _are_ like Evon." 

It rattled her, but she didn't respond. Shaine opened the door. "Goodbye." 

As she walked up to the hotel, two young men stepped in front of her. "Hey, lady...you got a few creds to spare?" 

Shaine started to walk around them. One grabbed her and she mumbled something incoherent...it sounded like German.

"Didn't you hear my friend here?" It was the bigger one. He had a tube running from one temple to his back, some sort of implant...

"Give us the creds!" The short one yelled. Several block-like things protruded from his head. 

"Huuuh?" Shaine was beginning to come back to herself, and she didn't like what she saw. 

"I _said_ give us your money...what the frag, can't you speak the lingo?" The tall one pulled out a knife.

Shaine threw her purse off at an angle, closer to him, then wriggled out of the short one's grasp. One of her rings fell to the pavement with a soft chime. The short one tried to grab her again, but she easily slid away. Some people would be surprised at how agile a small woman becomes when she has practice in sneaking behind and under desks to check network connections.

Once inside the hotel, Shaine had time enough to wish that she had paid more attention in the self-defense lessons Erik made her take. She went straight to her room and collapsed on the bed, shaking.

_Damn him. Damn him for doing this to me..._

_But he wanted to help. And he made me take those lessons in the first place...really, it was my fault for refusing him._

_Wasn't it._

///

Shaine's head hurt like hell. She heard a knock at the door...

Still a bit off-balance, she wandered over to look through the peephole. _A Boomer. Scheizen. Who is it? _

"Housekeeping, ma'am!" 

Shaine opened the door a crack. "Do you want your room cleaned?" She let the Boomer in. Then she got dressed and took something for her raging headache. Once the Boomer was finished, it told her that she had a message at the desk.

"All right. I'll get it later." The door closed behind the Boomer.

///

"I heard I have a message. Room 644." 

The man behind the desk tried to hide his newspaper. "Yes...someone said you dropped this last night." 

It was her purse.

///

Back in her room, Shaine found that everything in her purse was just as she'd left it. ID, disks...

In fact, a bit more than she'd left. Thirty dollars more in her wallet, and a note saying...

_We're sorry. We won't bother you again._

Beneath that, it gave the names and addresses of her attackers...as well as the cell blocks to which they had been assigned.

"Okaaay, I'm alone in a strange city, I just got mugged and _earned _money, Genom wants me back...

"How the fuck do I get back out of the looking glass?" 


	3. The Looking-Glass War

The Looking Glass War

The Looking Glass War  
_By Shaine and Shatterclaw. Individual rating: PG for language._

"Erik..." She had been wrong. So wrong...

She sat on the bed shaking until the ringing of the phone brought her back to reality. Deciding to book a flight to Metro as soon as she could, she picked it up.

"Hello. May I speak to Miss Shaine Kohl?" 

"That's me." 

"This is ADP Detective Jacob." Shaine was very tempted to hang up and call Erik. "I was wondering if I might stop by and have a few words with you." 

"All right..." 

"How about ten this morning?" 

"That's fine." It would give her time to start packing.

"I'll see you then. Thank you." 

Shaine scrambled for her laptop. She wasn't in the Chicago criminal databases yet...as least not as anything other than a victim...and Erik's name came up clean as well. At least, relatively so. Genom itself was implicated in the deaths caused by misfiring of satellite weapons.

Her case was lumped in with nearly a hundred others in a large file. Whereas all the others were clearly and obviously labeled, this one was tagged only as Birdman. 

It was huge. Muggings, Boomer attacks, near rapes...all stopped by the same ravenlike creature. Most were marked unsolved. Sketches based on the testimony of eyewitnesses showed a birdlike, or angel-like, figure in dark colors - not unlike a Knight Saber hardsuit. Shaine was certain that the two were connected.

She heard a knock on the door. Disconnecting entirely from the Net, she went to the door. Through the peephole she could see a well-dressed man in his thirties, wearing a suit and tie with an overcoat, and beside him a man in ADP uniform.

"Let me see your badge!" She yelled. The police officer and the plainclothes both held their badges up toward the peephole. ADP Detective Jacob, badge number blah-blah-blah...

"Ma'am, it's Detective Jacob. We spoke earlier on the phone." 

Shaine opened the door. "Sorry." 

"It's all right, ma'am. This is Officer Jenkins." 

"Ma'am." 

"The hotel staff reported that there was some sort of incident last night...?" 

"I got mugged just outside here. Two men, with odd metal things in their necks." 

Jenkins nodded. "Cyber junkies." 

"I tossed my purse in one direction and dodged in the other. The next morning, the purse was at the front desk, with nothing missing." 

"How did you get away from them?" 

"Like I said, I just twisted out of the one's grip while they were distracted. I think they wanted the purse more than they wanted me." 

"Really? Nothing was taken?" 

"Did you happen to see anything else?" 

"No, and no."

"I see." Jacob started scribbling on a battered, old notepad.

"My uncle is Erik Kohl," Never hurt to drop a name like that... "I had just gotten out of his car. They weren't following me back to the hotel; they were already there." Her voice was terse, becoming angrier.

"Yes, junkies go after anyone who seems weaker but still healthy. The bodies fetch a high price on the black market." 

"So why did the one with the knife go after the purse and not me?" 

"Most likely they didn't want to do any damage. They'd be able to get much more if all of the organs were intact." 

_All of _my_ organs, you mean,_ Shaine realized. _Erik...!_

"Is that all? I'm planning to go back to Michigan today and I still have to pack." 

"You intend to leave Chicago?" 

"Yes...at least for now." 

"I hate to ask this of you," Jacob said slowly, "But we're going to have to request that you not leave town for now." 

_"Why?"_

"If you'll stay just long enough to identify your assailants, and of course file a report..." 

"I thought they confessed!" 

"They did," Jenkins admitted. "But the confession is in question." 

Shaine refused to say anything more.

"How did you know that they confessed?" 

She got her purse off of the nightstand and fished out the note. "Here." 

"Ahhh!" Jacob opened up the notepad again. "How did you get this?" 

"It was in my purse when I picked it up at the front desk." 

"Ma'am, would you come back to the station with us?" 

"I'm calling my uncle. Now." 

The two officers looked at each other. "Of course...once you're at the station..." 

"I don't think you're listening to me. I said now." She stood her ground. "From what I understand, you have to leave if I tell you to... "

"Yes, ma'am...but there is still the matter of the law..." 

"I'm sure Erik's lawyer can straighten me out on the finer points of the situation." A small smile. 

"Fine, call this Erik of yours. We'll wait." 

///

"Hello? Yes, Mr. Kohl, please..." She frowned. "Vice-President Kohl. Is there more than one?" 

Jenkins whispered something to Jacob as the pair listened.

"Yes.

"Erik, there are police officers here and they want me to go with them...I don't know what to do!

"No, no, they haven't arrested me..."

Jenkins rolled his eyes.

"I don't know if they'll let me wait for you." Her voice was tiny, gone so high-pitched as to seem a full octave higher. "Please..." 

She then broke into a rapid string of high-pitched, cracking, and poorly accented German words that lost both officers, then ended with _Vogelmann_. 

They looked at each other. "Ja, Vogelmann!" Shaine repeated. "All right..."

She hung up. "All right. I'll go." 

///

An hour later, she was at the police station, having repeated the same story again. And again. There was a momentary break, in the form of a lineup, and she easily identified the two men who'd attacked her. 

In normal light, it was pretty fucking obvious.

Another officer walked her back to the well-maintained but drab room in which she had been questioned, and left. Yet a fourth officer soon appeared.

"Hello, Miss Kohl. I'm Lieutenant Jamson." 

"Jacob, Jenkins, Jamson...you're pretty damned alliterative around here." 

Jamson actually laughed at that. "Genom makes us that way." 

"Funny...I'd think you'd have a little more loyalty to the company, then." 

He tapped his head and said, "Made in Japan." 

"Not in Chicago. What a pity." 

"Well, we can't all be perfect." He smiled. "So, why don't you tell me how you got your purse back?" 

She launched into the same exact story as before, leaving out Erik's curious behavior in the restaurant and her own intoxication.

"And you never saw or heard anything." 

"No." 

"Well, that's rather funny, seeing as everything you lost was either returned to you or turned in to us, and your attackers were gift wrapped for us." 

_Everything? What about the ring?_ "Are you accusing me?" 

"And you never saw anything, not even when you got away." 

"Nothing. I've told you over and over..._nothing._" 

"Okay. When your...uncle, is it? and his lawyer get here, we can go over this again..." 

Once he was gone, Shaine slumped down in her chair. "God damn you, Erik..." she whispered.

///

She sat there for ten minutes, staring out the window, and then saw Erik walking toward the building with an older man and a Boomer. The clothes on the three of them had to cost as much as the entire ADP's civilian wardrobe for a year.

"Erik...?" 

Jacob and Jenkins soon appeared, leading the three into the room. 

"Erik, where the fuck have you been?" The sudden, explosive tone of her voice was enough to convey her meaning to the ADP officers despite the fact that she spoke in German.

Erik answered with a much more cultured accent, actually making the guttural syllables seem a bit softer: "Why, getting your lawyer, my dear." 

"It couldn't have taken that long. Asshole." 

"Such language! I'm hurt." 

"You taught me worse," she hissed.

"How did you get stuck in this place?" 

She gave a swift recap of the mugging and Jacob's arrival at her hotel room.

"Why didn't you tell me this!" He began speaking in English. "I want the badge numbers of the officers responsible for this...circus!" 

_Whatever Erik wants, Erik gets, oh yes..._ Once he had this, he demanded that the officers leave.

The Boomer and the old man stood there, mirroring the actions and questions of the two officers. Not much of a trade. The Boomer was taking notes, too.

"So what have you told them?" The man asked.

"I told them how the mugging happened, how I got away, and I showed them the note that was left in my purse." 

"What note?" 

It was on the table. She pointed to it, and Erik walked over to the table and picked it up. His jaw tightened and his face became visibly more red. The lawyer followed him.

"I see this sort of thing all the time." 

Erik spun around and used every word she'd just hurled at him, with a few gender-specific ones thrown in for good measure. "Why didn't you say anything about this? You know we take care of each other in this family! Who do you think I am, Evon?" 

The lawyer seemed resigned. "They'll have to let you go in an hour or so..." 

"They're acting like it was my fault!" 

"Did you see him?" the lawyer asked again, insistant.

"Who?" 

"The 'Birdman,' " he insisted. "The one who caught all of those muggers..." 

"I didn't see anything, and that's exactly what I told them." 

"Hm. I believe I am going to have to raise my fee..." 

"Don't be crass. How can you talk about money at a time like this?" 

///

Outside the ADP station, Erik glared at the lawyer and his Boomer. "Go. We'll call you when we need you." 

The lawyer seemed about to protest, but then quickly shepherded his Boomer away.

Erik turned back toward Shaine. "I want to talk business." 

"Fine. Geschaft." 

"I want you to find out whatever you can about this Birdman. It might be..._watching_ you for some reason." 

"No." 

"No?" Erik's tone was that of one defied once too often.

"I'm leaving this city the first chance I get and I'm not stopping until I get to Twelve and Gratiot." 

"After the way I took care of you...?" 

_"You?_ Oh, you took care of me wonderfully well!" She let him have it again, her accent in German a bastard mixture of Rhineland and American midwest. "I was drunk. And I just _happened _to leave that out when they interrogated me." 

"I can make this worth your while...how would you like to finally get a new chipset for that tortoise you call a laptop? It would be a simple matter; I'm sure Genom would go ten percent over whatever it is you're making now..." 

_Believe it or not, Erik, that's a low bid compared to what Veldez offered..._

"I'm going home." 

"Fine. Turn your back on your family. You really are just like Evon..." He muttered something else; the only word she caught was _weak_.

Shaine glared at him.

"You might as well leave." A moment later, he glanced at her again. "Still here? Why?" 

"I need you." It was a bitter tone of voice, not surrendering in spirit despite the necessary physical defeat. _Whatever you may think, you don't own me. You can't break my wings._

Her eyes met his. Odd, they were...the blue of a cold sky or the barren winter wind, flecked with grey like dirty snow on the side of a city street...

The weight of the past day fell down upon her all at once and she found herself in his arms again, her tears slowly soaking through the expensive fabric of his shirt.

///

"Good morning, Miss Shaine! Did you sleep well?" 

A pale white face loomed over her. "Whatinhell--" 

"Mister Erik gave me a list of foods you like. Make sure you eat well. I'll draw a hot bath for you." The pink-haired Boomer's smile seemed almost painted on. "Is there anything else I can do for you?" 

"No. I just...need some time to myself." 

She ignored the smell of hot coffee and scrambled eggs that was, quite honestly, making her stomach churn. She couldn't eat, especially after all that had happened. She vaguely remembered arriving there...

_Erik had insisted upon finding her a new apartment immediately. She had fallen asleep in the car while he was off doing that. He woke her up, made her walk just to the door...once it was locked behind them, he picked her up. The human contact felt good. She hadn't wanted him to leave, but she was half asleep again by the time he set her down again on the bed. Such a short distance. That last brush of his hand against her cheek had been searing; she knew that was the end, and couldn't stand to be there alone..._

_But she had had to. And it didn't take long for her to fall asleep._

Shaine quickly set the tray on the floor, away from the bed. She heard the sound of water running. Good. She'd sneak into the bathtub as soon as the Boomer left, and with any luck it would take her hint about the food.

The water was too damned hot. She felt overheated already, like her entire body was covered with an oh-so-thin coating of slime that held in its heat, and the second tubful of water was on the border between lukewarm and cold. Adding bubble bath, she pronounced it perfect then gingerly lowered herself in and began feebly scrubbing at her arms and legs.

She heard the telephone ring. The Boomer answered in the perkiest voice imaginable, and Shaine tried to block out the noise. 

Then the Boomer opened the door without a hint of caution, saying, "It's Mister Erik!" 

Shaine took the phone. "Mister Erik, I do believe I'm going to kill you for this." 

"What exactly is that?" 

"Oh, but I shouldn't. This unit is so loving, and kind...I could let her wait on me forever!" 

"Oh. The Boomer. She may need some adjustment before you're satisfied with her, of course."

"No shit." 

"With your skills it shouldn't be a problem." 

"And what, Mister Erik, is that plate of arterial congestion you tried to slip me this morning? Bacon? Ham? _Coffee?_" 

"You need to put on some weight, dear. Don't think I can't tell that your rings are getting looser. Why, it even looked the other day like one had slipped off of your finger." 

"It's not like I've been able or willing to eat very much in the past few days." 

"Do you need anything from the hotel room? Your old apartment?" 

"Mmm...the computer, my backups, CDs, books, clothing, jewelry..." She sighed. "My plush Sailor Pluto doll..." 

"I can take care of that. Anything else?" 

"No, I don't think so." 

"How about your car?" 

"Damn. _That _POS?" 

"Well, what kind of car would you rather have?" 

"Ohhhh, no. You are _not _doing this to me." 

"Doing what?" His voice was completely innocent.

"You know what you're doing." 

"I have no idea, dear..." 

Shaine decided on the blunt approach. "No. You are not buying me a car." 

Just then, the Boomer walked in again with a set of keys.

"Thank you, Uncle Erik..." Shaine slid down into the bubbles, outgunned and outnumbered. "So what exactly is it?" 

"A New New Beetle, of course." She could almost hear him smile. "I remember when we'd pass one, and you always used to point and shout, _Beetle!"_

"Wonderful. So now I can just get in my car and not be able to drive anywhere because I'm too busy pointing at myself and shouting _Beetle!_" 

"Well, then. Now that that's taken care of...I do hope you're not going to just sit in there all day." 

"Yes, I'm sure you do hope." 

The Boomer shook her head no.

"This is the city that mugged me and falsely accused me. How much time do you think I want to spend slumming with its wonderful citizens?" 

"What, ready to give up after one bad night?" 

"It was bad, all right?" 

"Just find me this Birdman and you'll be cleared - not that the ADP aren't going to pay for what they've done..." 

Her voice was flat. "So it's business again." 

"It's always business, dear." 

"Thank you for clearing that up." She motioned for the Boomer to leave. 

"As soon as you get your laptop, see what you can find out?" 

"Mm." She was out of the tub quickly and wrapped herself in a towel. She saw that the Boomer had left a new one for her on the floor, cables trailing beneath the door and out of the room.

"You know, if you're having trouble with the Boomer, just tell her to go clean the house. They do listen to simple commands, you know. 

"Unlike certain humans..." 

"And what exactly does that mean?" 

"Have you ever understood the word _no_?" 

"Hmmm, I do seem to recall such a word...but of course I don't keep up with slang..." 

"Think back. In the restaurant...later when you told me about this Birdman shit..." 

"What about it?" he snapped.

"I seem to remember saying something of the sort then." 

"And that would mean...? "

Her voice dropped to a menacing whisper. "There's still more I could tell the ADP...as I think I mentioned yesterday..." 

"The ADP and the normal police are very proud. These so-called Birdman attacks make them look bad...and so they would do anything to find out more about them." 

"Throw me back to them. I don't care. Want to see how fast I can disappear from here?" 

"Of course, you'll only get five to ten at the most." _For what? _"And _disappearing_ may be harder than you think. I own this city." 

"What good does owning a haystack do when it's the needle you want?" 

"I suppose you'll just have to see for yourself..._Alice_..." So he'd been listening to her talk to herself in the hotel room. Which meant the apartment was almost certainly also bugged.

By that time, she'd had plenty of opportunity to use the laptop. "I think you may want to check your e-mail account at work..." 

There was a short silence, then the clicking of keys on the other end. Suddenly he swore. "You won't get away with this!" 

_"That's _only the beginning. Just try to even trace me back here." 

"There are still...certain things that the FBI may want to see." 

"I'm not afraid of Mulder." 

She hung up.

///

Headed downtown in a cab, Shaine examined her clothing carefully. No bugs. _All right. Current assets: a few credit cards, fake IDs, my bare-minimums backup from the old laptop...a pen. Not much. I need to go get some new clothing, not too much like my usual style, and a new pair of earrings if I want to keep wearing them. The rings have to go. _She slid them into one pocket, then removed the small silver hoops from her ears. _I don't have a gun. Probably shouldn't risk buying one. I need a new place to stay, preferably someplace shady enough that they won't cooperate with the ADP. Preferably far away from Chicago. Fake plane tickets and train reservations to several places in different directions, preferably places I've been before to make it look more credible..._

_But first there's one last thing I need to finish off with dear Erik..._

Getting out at the aboveground portion of the downtown district, she slid into a net cafe and tried Genom again. No luck. Gritting her teeth, she tried to access his account again. 

_The account name _kohler _does not exist, is expired, or is under administrative lockout. Please contact the network administrator for more information._

Good. At least he hadn't gotten through her lockout yet.

She decided to use the back door she'd inserted in the Starbright mainframe to mask her location while making her false travel arrangements. However, her browser crashed every time she tried to do so.

Of course. Erik was already on to them.

A dialog window appeared: _Do you want to play a game?_

_Sure. Why not. I'm screwed anyway._

It looked like another Doom-style shooter, but she didn't have a gun. The corridors were empty. She took a few turns and came to a ball of light hovering in the middle of the hallway. 

_Out of the one million Boomers in Chicago, over one half are misused and go rogue. _

A gun appeared.

Soon she came to another ball of light:

_At the current rate of production, by the year 2050 Boomers will outnumber humans. _

It gave her a clip of ammo.

A third ball of light, and a third message:

_By the year 2120, Boomers alone will be sufficient to catastrophically overpopulate the Earth. _

The floor dropped out from beneath her, and she fell into a citylike setting. She saw a Boomer attacking a human. It turned toward her and charged...

Shaine started to shoot at it. Another fact popped up. _Normal bullets cannot harm a rogue Boomer. The ADP goes through ten thousand bullets for every Boomer it puts down. _

Another character was in the game, a metal-suited Birdman figure. The Boomer didn't seem to notice it.

Soon the game ended, and another dialog box popped up: _Thank you for using Dormouse. Your connection has expired._

///

"I need to talk to Veldez. Now." 

"The green-haired secretary didn't seem ready to oblige her. Ms. Veldez is on her break at the moment. It won't be long..." 

Shaine sat down and somehow managed to keep reasonably calm.

"Ah, Miss Kohl! I apologize for the wait. Now, what can I do for you?" 

"I...need to talk to you in private." 

"All right..." Veldez led her to a large office with a view of the lake. "Have a seat. Can I get you something to drink?" 

"No thank you. ...I've been thinking about that job offer. Genom made a counterproposal, but I'm not inclined to take it."

"Have you made a decision yet?" 

Shaine stared at Saki intently, searching for some clue as to what was going on. "That game of yours...have you ever seen the level with the Birdman?" She was a tough read, but her eyes seemed to sparkle in quiet victory... "That copy you gave me is a great stress reliever - and I've needed it, considering all that's happened. This is quite a lively city, you know." 

Saki turned to look out the window. "I see. It gets worse every year..." 

"And does _he _get worse every year?" 

There was a long pause, then something in Saki changed. She seemed full of energy...barely contained, yet perfectly under control. "That depends...on which side you see yourself on."

"We each see things differently; our views are shaped by outside forces."

"Tell me...how do you see this city, Miss Kohl?" 

"It's a haystack." 

"Ah," She seemed pleased. "You're right, in a way. The city is a haystack, and each day we lose more needles than can ever be found again. Far too easy to get lost, and disappear where neither we nor Genom can ever reach.

"Part of it is because humans need hope, and that is taken away from them.

"What is left in a life without hope?" 


	4. Crimson

Crimson

Crimson  
_By Shaine and Shatterclaw. Individual rating: PG for language._

Shaine bit her lip, hard, as she began to think about just how much she had underestimated him. _Guess he didn't get to the top by kissing ass after all..._ Sitting in a restaurant downtown with her new wardrobe in shopping bags surrounding her feet, she decided to concentrate on something else.

This meeting of Saki's, then. She'd told Shaine to find her down in the park that night, around six, and given her an envelope. Shaine opened the envelope to find a check for ten thousand dollars - her first month's pay in advance, plus a bonus. She quickly put it back; no one seemed to notice. 

The check was made out to the name on one of her false IDs; she cashed it and left most of the money and clothing in her new basement apartment. It was in the low-rent district, rather passable in spite of the owner's apparent shiftiness, and the neighbors weren't likely to point her out to the ADP.

Or Genom.

///

"Get me into that account or I will have your head." 

The assistant network manager gulped nervously. "I'm...not sure that's possible. You were put under a special administrative lockout; it looks to be designed for users suspected of theft or fraud. Only certain accounts are able to initiate the lockout - we think - and then only the issuing account can lift it. Until then, the offending account can't be altered or deleted...everything is perfectly preserved in order to fry the person involved. It can be isolated into its own taskgroup with no rights and then re-opened by the issuing accountholder, but that's all." 

"Who is the issuing accountholder?" 

The man gulped again. "You, sir." 

"So you're saying that I can't get into my account until the lock is removed, but I can't remove the lock until I get into my account?" 

'Essentially...yes." 

"Go away before I do something impulsive," he snapped, then buried his head in his hands once the administrator was safely gone. "Carter is going to have a field day..." 

Evon, who had been leaning against another desk and enjoying the entire show, smiled.

///

Wearing a new Sailor Mars t-shirt and jeans, Shaine arrived at the meeting place with time to spare. Saki was already there, sitting on the hood of a sleek red car of indeterminate make. "Have any trouble finding me?" 

"No." 

"Are you hungry?"

"Yeah, I guess..." 

"So. What are you in the mood for?" 

"I don't care. Just...no chocolate. Mind and stomach returned to that disastrous luncheon just two days earlier. And no breakfast food!" 

Saki looked at her strangely. "Sure. Not a problem." 

///

There was a huge hot-dog-shaped sign in front of the restaurant, but it didn't have any writing on it. Inside, the commingling scents of several things cooking, none of which could be identified offhand, actually managed to renew Shaine's appetite.

"Hey, Saki! How's the boss, ah?" 

"He's just fine, Al. Just fine!" 

_Al? As in Al's Diner, slow foods our specialty?_ Shaine tried very hard not to laugh. _Well, at least he says more than Whuuuut? _

"Al, this is Shaine. Shaine, Al." 

"Hi." 

"I'll just have the same as always. You, Shaine?" 

_Better take it easy for now._ 'Got any Jell-o?"

"For _you_, sure, kiddo!" 

Saki pointed to a booth. "Go ahead and sit down. I'll bring the food." Carved into the wood in the corner of the booth was _Omar & Deis forever _and a rough sketch of a small bird.

Soon Saki returned with a huge roast beef sandwich, chili cheese fries, and a large bowl and green and red Jell-o.

"Pfeh. I'm going to the commissary to drown my sorrows in Jell-o!" Shaine quoted. She started eating slowly.

"Al makes the best beef in Chicago." 

"Um-huh." The Jell-o was rather good...but, then, it was Jell-o.

"So. Do you have any questions I might be able to answer?" 

"I'm still wondering how I'm going to get to work every morning without getting nailed. He knows I was talking to you. The police probably know too, by now." 

"That would be a problem...but by the time Monday comes, they will have something else to work on." 

"Really." Shaine's voice had suddenly gone cold. "I'm afraid I don't have much positive experience with making things come up just to save my ass." 

Saki raised an eyebrow. "You're not alone in that. But the quiet times are very rare, and there are limitations to how long they can stall the case. They have their men, and all of the stolen items were returned to you. They have the notion that they can pin it on some sort of giant birds..."

"Vogelmann," Shaine whispered bitterly.

"Yes, that's as fitting a name as any...though somehow they got the moniker 'Steel Ravens.' "

Shaine played with her food and thought of her friend Crash's rendition of the Jell-o jingle.

"What do you think your uncle will do?" 

"I don't know yet. Certainly try to trap me again..." 

"How dangerous is he? Abusive?" 

"I've never _seen_ him do anything violent." 

"Hm." She took a huge bite of the sandwich.

"But I totalled his login at Genom just before I left. He's not going to forget that." 

"Really! When?" 

"Just this morning." Saki stopped, sandwich midway between her mouth and the plate, and a catlike smile crept across her face. "It's fucked up _good_." 

"You must be quite good; their system is formidable."

"No, I just know his passwords. And they're using a release of NetNova that I coauthored." 

She took another bite. "He may be very angry at you." 

"No shit." She stopped, the remaining Jell-o turned into a muddy mess at the bottom of the bowl. "We've disagreed before, he's even stopped talking to me...but I never did anything like that, and he's never threatened me that I couldn't get away." 

"I wonder what will happen when he finds out his pet project just went up in smoke this morning, as well...." 

"Oh?" 

"We...outbid him on a contract. Came in lower and with a better item. As of 11am, we had the whole thing wrapped up and ready to go..." 

She mostly just made small talk, then, and Shaine listened. Eventually she looked at her watch. "We'd better be going now." 

///

Saki glanced through the park. "Take that path over there; it'll bring you to him." 

_Him who?_ Shaine thought, but didn't say a word. The path was covered over by a thin layer of grass and various creeping things she couldn't identify, with shade trees ahead and bushes to either side. Further down there was a park bench, upon which sat a man in a leather trenchcoat. A beret and sunglasses obscured and drew attention away from his face.

"Hello. I'm glad you could meet me here. What do you think so far?" 

"I think I'm far better off here than elsewhere." 

"I suppose you're right. How much do you know? And how much do you want to know?" 

"I want to know whatever will bring Genom down." 

"That would take a lot. Are you willing to spend the rest of your life bringing down one man?" 

"It's either that or spend the rest of my life hiding!" 

"You won't need to hide. There's a limit to how much more your uncle can do. He's due in court for what has happened." 

"What exactly is that?"

"He and Carter are being brought up on charges for the latest satellite strikes. But that's another matter." 

"I assure you...the rest of my life would not be too long to spend on this." 

"You want to know about the Ravens." He was cut off by the cawing of a black shadow flying low under the trees. The man held out his arm and a bird landed on it.

"Report," he said, and a bit of light glowed out of the bird's eyes. It was a tiny film of the park. The raven shouted, then flew off again.

He turned back to Shaine. "What would you like to know about us?" 

"I just told you - whatever I need to know." 

"We are not the monster that Genom and the underworld would have people believe. We are _real_, and we do what we do in order to keep the city and its people safe. What you need to know is that Genom wants to rule the world and they have stopped at nothing to get this far. They will use anything and anyone to get what they want." 

"I could have told you that much." 

"But no one would believe either of us, and we are in a small minority." He paused. "What do you know of us?" 

"Almost nothing. I saw the ADP files and I assume you're like the Knight Sabers...if not in league with them." 

He smiled. "In league with them...you make that sound like a bad thing." 

Shaine looked at him and almost smiled. 

"As for the ADP files, that leaves you with nothing. I've seen them myself, and they're not good for much more than a child's bedtime story. What you need to know is that once you're in, there is no getting back out. Are you sure you want to go down the rabbit hole?"

"I'm sure." 

"Then welcome aboard...Alice..." The path was suddenly flooded by light, a hovering aircraft of some kind at its end... "Time is short. Come with me!" 

He took her hand and led her up the ramp.

///

A person - man? woman? - in the Ravens' armor walked up to the man in the trenchcoat. "Crimson! Everything has been taken care of." 

Crimson turned back toward Shaine and told her to sit down. "This will take us back to our base, where we can see just what you can do for us." He sat down beside her.

"My name is Crimson. Outside of this, he gestured toward their surroundings, I am not real. 

"Some of our members have lives still; some do not. This is the choice of each member individually, and how they want to live. 

"We live by a code, and it is up to every member to uphold that code:

"You will not divulge any information concerning the Steel Ravens.

"You will never act upon a personal grudge.

"You will never act without the mutual consent of all Ravens.

"You will not attempt to secede from this organization.

"You are responsible for damage to the organization's equipment while it is in your possession or use, unless that damage was unavoidable.

"You will never divulge information regarding any of our clients.

"You will not attempt to gather intelligence on your own. This task will be divided among all members as seen fit.

"You will keep in regular contact with other members.

"The penalty for violating any of the rules is death.

"Do you understand that this is the price of destroying Genom?" 

"Yes." 

The doors to the back of the jet opened. "Then welcome to the Steel Ravens, Shaine Kohl. Come with me." 

///

"This floor is our training center. It is also where we will fit you for a hardsuit. The locker room is down the hall; Belladonna will meet you there. Change into a measuring suit, then come back to this room." 

Shaine went down the hall, coming to two double doors: _womens' locker room_. A teenage girl sat on one of the benches inside, dressed in a black and white skintight suit. Her hair was five different colors, all of them garishly bright.

"Hi. What's your name?" 

"I'm Shaine." 

"Belladonna. What size do you wear?"

"Mmm...three or five." 

Belladonna smiled and stretched. "Hm. Three might fit." She pulled a suit like her own out of a large locker. 

"Here you go. Be careful not to hit the hard points on the floors or walls." She pointed to a metal triangle at the jumpsuit's arm. "Crim has a fit at how often we have to replace them."

"So, what's your specialty?"

"Computer software." 

_"Really?_ Hacking or building?" 

"Both." 

"I used to be the group's hacker, but then I went into combat. More action, plus I toasted some implants doing the Vulcan mind meld." 

"Mind meld?" 

"Yeah. Freejacked into a Boomer's mind, tried to override the junk that Genom calls programming...didn't work..." She pointed to a set of metal ports on the side of her head.

"Never tried that. But remind me to show you a trick with NetNova 5 sometime." 

"Cool! Uh...but I only have version 4..." 

"I can hook you up." 

"Cool beans! But we better get going, boss man _hates_ to be kept waiting..."

"All right," Shaine was rather self-conscious about the way the suit fit her body, but she followed diligently. _Makes me look even flatter than I already am, damn it... But why do you care? Going to go after Birdman Crimson with a can opener?_

Belladonna led her back through another door, passing through the room where she had left Crimson, and into a circular room. In the center was a device in the rough shape of a human.

"Okay, I'm going to hook you up to the simulator. It may feel uncomfortable at first, so don't try to fight it." She led Shaine up to the device, flipping open the manacle-like restraints on its sides. "Step right up!" 

Shaine fought an attack of claustrophobia as Belladonna slapped the device closed, hooked up some leads to the hard points on her suit, and locked her in.

Belladonna stepped back. "She's ready to go..." 

Crimson's voice came over the intercomm. "This will simulate a fight in a hardsuit. However, it is only a facsimile and nothing like wearing one. Just let the machine do the work." 

The room went black. Shaine saw through the simulator's screen that she was on top of the Sears Tower. On the side of the tower was a Boomer, climbing up...

She was suddenly pulled down into a wild flight down one side of the tower, toward the Boomer. A ball of fire issued from its mouth, but she easily dodged it. The Boomer swung its arm at her, but missed again. Voices streamed over her hardsuit's radio... "Go for the core!" one yelled.

She jumped off the side of the tower and launched something at the Boomer, then swung into a glass window. The Boomer followed her in, firing its weapons. She dodged, but then was caught up in its arms. It squeezed...

Shaine somehow managed to pry her way out of its hands and kick at the side of its face. There was an explosion, and the monster reared back. She fired again, sending two glowing rods into the Boomer's chest and causing another explosion.

She reached into the chest and drew out something that looked like a human heart. As she closed her fist around it, it exploded.

The simulation ended.

///

"Did you _get_ that, Boss! Whew!" 

"Yes, not bad..." 

"You okay, Shaine?" 

"Yeah, I think so." It was far from the truth, but she hardly wanted to look weak in front of the others.

"Y'know, it's not fair. Most people spill a gut and _you_ just walk away." 

"Yeah, I'm funny like that." 

Belladonna led her into the weight room. "Okay. This time we want to see how much you can lift, bench, and hold. Try your hardest, but don't overdo it." 

Small and tired, but possessed of the stereotypical German physique, Shaine easily passed. She then did repetitions and ran on a treadmill...nothing as strenuous as the previous room's test. Finally Belladonna took her into another round room, this one with a recessed area in the center of the floor.

"This is where we see how well you handle hand-to-hand combat." The recessed area came alive with a purple glow and music began to play:

_I love you...you love me...we're a great big family..._

In the middle of the room was a round purple ball with a smiling face. Belladonna just sat there and smiled.

"Go ahead. Go fight it." 

_God, I wish this was The Matrix ..._

_I love you...you love me..._

Shaine stepped down toward the Barneyball, then took a breath and steeled herself. "I know kung-fu." 

"Yeah, me too, but that comes later." 

Shaine had no time to tell her that it was only a quote. A spike shot out from Barney's head. She pulled back away from the spike, dropping down and kicking upward at it. Two more spikes came at her, and she rolled away.

She came at it again, jumping over the two long, low spikes it sent out to sweep her, and landed a good blow to its side. The ball spun, and lanced out with a holographic slab which hit her in the waist. It followed up with four more spikes, two of which hit.

"You're my special friend!" Shaine charged, evading another long spike and getting in another solid hit. The hologram faded.

"Not bad! But next time use the Teletubby one; it's more disturbing." 

"Sure, pick on me and go easy on the newbies..." Belladonna muttered. "Come on, we have a few more to go." 

They were mostly problem solving and hand/eye coordination. Too easy.

The last room was a lounge of sorts, with several couches and a low table. Crimson was sitting there with a pile of papers next to him.

"So how do you feel?" 

"Like shit." She gave up the macho routine and fell down onto one of the couches, holding her head in her hands.

"Impressive! Most don't make it to the couches. The hall, sure...a few feet from Barney, mostly." He shot a look at Belladonna. "Get her something to drink, please." 

"No Coke!" Shaine gasped. Her stomach cramped. _On top of all that other shit, now I've got an aversion to one of the most popular soft drinks in the world...thank you, Erik..._

"Okaaaay...how's Gatorade sound?" 

"Fine." Belladonna left.

"Well, you're a little light on the combat side," Crimson said, leafing through the papers, "But you have great hand-to-hand, and hand/eye, which is very useful. Do you know how to use any weapons?" 

"Yeah. I used to have a little Miyako, like Gwen in _The Cat Who Walks through Walls_, but that's back in Michigan." 

"We'll have to take you down to the shooting range, then. Anything else? Swords, knives?"

"No." She frowned. "Well, fencing, but that doesn't really count."

"It counts. It's useful." 

"Oh, sure. Even..._he_...could whip my ass at it." 

"It's not about whipping anyone's ass. It's about putting down a Boomer as fast as you can." 

"A fencing foil against a Boomer. Right." 

"Sometimes you have to use imaginative methods." He smiled. "We balance the teams out with personal suits so that each person's weaknesses are even. For you, it will be some heavy weaponry as well as support and communications equipment. You will handle what goes in and out of a battle site. That includes any records - audio, video, any physical evidence that we were there. Except for the Boomer. Those we leave for Genom." There was a sparkle in his eye. "Your suit will be ready in about four days. Then you will have a week to try it out before you are expected to go on dry runs. After that, you will be cleared for missions. And until then, I'll have a standard suit rigged for you. Left-handed, correct?" 

"Yes." 

"If you want, you can try it out today. But until then...the boring part. You have to sign these papers." 

It was standard health and life insurance coverage, separate from that which she had as a Starbright employee. She got through the forms with minimal stress.

"Okay...time to see the suits." Crimson took her down to another floor. The walls of one room were lined with black Birdman suits.

"These are our hardsuits. Each one is tailored to a specific person. You have one backup..." He pressed a button on the wall, and a second suit popped out. "That one is a standard operation suit, one anyone can wear. It has two settings, personalized and universal." 

He pushed another button and a long door opened. "These are the cloaks we wear over the suit. It is worn over either suit, no matter what. And, no matter what, when a suit goes down the cloak is burned. It must not ever be allowed to fall into anyone else's hands. Understood?" 

"Yes." 

He closed the door and opened another. "These are our external weapons. Our backups. There were huge handguns and clips, scaled to the suits' hands. They fire 12mm shells, mostly anti-Boomer, for when we are in deep trouble. The clips hide in the cloak, the gun at your thigh in a special holster." 

He picked up what Shaine could only describe as a Big Fucking Gun. "The rifle is optional, and rarely used. It fires three shell types as well as grenades. This is for the big ones. The guns are stored in all of our transports" 

Inside the next room were cages filled with huge ravens. "These are the birds. They are hybrid robots, responding to a wrist communicator hidden inside a fake watch. Most of the time they will simply follow you, and if you are in danger they will let you know. If you need help, you can send it to get us. They have no weapons...but can peck an eye out pretty fast. Each member gets three, but more than likely you will only end up using one. Do you know how to handle a bird?" 

"No." 

"It won't take long to learn." He gave her a handful of seed. "Go ahead; pick one. They love the attention." 

She began to walk toward one of the birds. It called out and hopped over to the front of the cage, eating greedily from her hand. The one in the next cage, which had a silver streak over its eye, cawed angrily and tried to grab some of the seed.

Crimson handed her a watch. "This will call any of them, or you can pick which one you want. It will also show you when and where there is one near you." 

A raven with dyed pink feathers flew in, opened one of the cages. It grasped the door with its beak and shut it behind itself.

"Some of them tend to pick up bad habits from their humans." 

Next was the motorpool. There were Ravens' Wings, miniature jets like the one that had brought her there, and and the Motoslaves, which could transform over a hardsuit or operate as a robot in battle. The room was connected to the city's monorail system, and along one wall were large tubes with huge doors.

"This is an RDC. We use it when we have to get someplace fast. There are some in the complex, some here, and one just inside the hardsuit room. Nightly patrols use it to check the city. The chamber charges with ions, then shoots you out overhead. Then you can use your jet verniers to go anywhere in the city." 

He turned toward her. "Would you like to try it?" 

"All right." 

"Go get into a hardsuit, then, and we'll have a test drive." 

///

Saki was sitting in the hardsuit room when Shaine arrived. As Saki helped her get into one of the generic suits, Shaine muttered...

"From now on, you'll dress only in attire sanctioned by MIB Special Services. You'll conform to the identity we give you, eat where we tell you, live where we tell you, get approval for any expenditure over a hundred dollars. You will have no identifying marks of any kind. You will not stand out in any way. Your entire image is carefully crafted to leave no lasting memory whatsoever with anyone you encounter..." 

"Okay, lean back." 

"You're a rumor, recognizable only as deja vu, and dismissed just as quickly. You don't exist; you were never born." 

Saki sent her back down the hall.

"Anonymity is your name, silence your native tongue. You are no longer part of the system. We're above the system, over it. Beyond it. We are Them. We're They..." 

She arrived at the motorpool. "We are the Men in Black.

"Here I am in the last suit I'll ever wear." 

///

"Okay, just step in and hang on. The first few minutes will be nerve-wracking. Wait until the charge is done...then go. Crimson put his helmet on. Can you still hear me?" 

"Yeah." 

"Let's go." 

///

The door closed and the tube turned. Shaine heard a loud locking sound, and the tube began to glow bright blue. Blue-white bolts shot across the tube as she was lifted up off of its floor. There was a flash and she shot out of the tube, rising to a height of about two miles above the city.

"You still with us?" 

"Yeah. I'm fine." 

"Good. You'll start descending soon. When you want to steer, hit the vernier in your back. Once you go to land, hit your jump jets. That'll slow you down so that you can jump again." 

Her heads-up display showed her location, the suit's status, her blood pressure and heart rate...

"See that building over there, the brownstone?" 

"Yeah." 

"Try to land there." 

Shaine aimed and easily made it to the building's roof, then realized that there was something going on in the street below. She could see two men beating another.

"Small crimes like this are fine to handle, and if you can make it looks like it happens on accident, even better." 

Crimson held out his arm, and two charges shot out from his hand. "Gas pellets. Give the man a chance to run, then we can wrap up the thugs. Make sure your cloak is on!" 

They jumped off of the roof, the cloaks helping to blend the hardsuits into their background. Crimson landed close to the two men, and made sure they were out cold. "The next thing we do is make sure they get picked up..." 

He called the police, then said, "Let's go; they'll be here all too soon." The pair returned to the roof, where a hardsuit with blue markings was waiting.

Crimson turned toward the Genom Tower. "You used to be able to see the lake from here. I hope one day we can have the view back." 

"O-_kay_, Crim, quit waxing poetic. The ADP is fighting a rogue Boomer." 

"What do you know about it?" 

"It's a C-class waitress. BUE35." 

Crimson looked at Shaine.

"BUE35...that's a cheap model." 

"Yeah, a lot of small restaurants went in on them big-time," Belladonna replied.

"Waitress Boomers are all the same. It's just a matter of how smart they are." 

"Weak spots?" Crimson asked.

Shaine shrugged. "I'm not used to thinking of Boomers in those terms." 

"Okay, Bell, frontal assault. Shaine on comm jam and backup. Right arm rail guns, left arm sword. Let's go show them whose town this is." 

Three jumps later, they found the Boomer. It had two humans trapped in the restaurant, and the ADP were still outside. It didn't look like a BUE35 to Shaine: its synthskin was grotesquely distorted and it was far bigger.

"Can you find out if there's any sort of external signal?" 

"None." 

"Good. Most likely the owner just overworked it. Bell, dance with it. Shaine, I need a five-block comm blackout." 

"Done." 

Belladonna went into the restaurant and was backhanded by the Boomer. She held her ground, lashing at it with what appeared to be some sort of cable. Crimson circled around and fired his rail gun.

"Shaine, see if you can find a way to scramble its hardware." 

"Working on it...got it!" 

The Boomer reared up and began shooting at her. Its red eyes glowed, and it charged...

Shaine began firing her rail gun. Once it was close enough, she brought up the sword and cleanly sliced off a cable that the Boomer lashed at her. The Boomer charged again, allowing her to land a few more shots. Someone - she thought it was Crimson - landed on its head and ripped something out. The Boomer died.

Crimson tossed it to her...it looked like a human heart. "Do the honors." 

Shaine crushed the Boomer's core as Belladonna used her laser to burn a raven symbol into the dead Boomer's hide.

"Good job. Now let's go." 

He walked over to the humans huddled in the corner of the restaurant. "They're out cold. Must've fainted." 

"Come _on_, Crim, let the ADP play overpriced paramedics...it's all they're good for, anyway." 

///

"Shaine, can you find out that Boomer's repair history? See how many times it was in the shop, and how often it broke down?" 

"Working on it... It was brand new, and never taken in for repairs." 

"What do we have on the owner of the restaurant?"

Belladonna consulted her records. "Not much. He only began using Boomers this year...it was cheaper than hiring humans." 

"I'm getting something. Genom was tracking this one. Brand new, and with a special batch number..." 

"What? Why?" 

"I don't know." 

"Hmmm. Carter must be up to something. See if there's anything more." 

"It was made in Japan. That's all." 

"Strange...it would have cost more, then. They must be up to something. Who do we have on the inside, Bell?" 

"No one. Willy was found dead yesterday, no one else is on the payroll, and Genom has shut down all of their normal doors. Unless you just want me to ask Carter...to let me peek?" 

"Shaine, do you have any way into Genom's system?" 

"We have to come up with a code name for you..." Belladonna mused.

Shaine sighed. "Depends. I killed _his_ login this morning and it's questionable whether I could get in without it. Undoubtedly they've tightened security since finding out about my loophole...though I may be able to use it again if they haven't figured out exactly where it is."

"How long will it take to find out?" 

"Ahhhh...looks like they haven't! Hah!" 

"Good. See what you can find without letting them know you're there." 

"It looks like they were getting some messages from Mason over in the Tokyo office. Seems to regard a new shipment of Boomers. Most of it is in _his _mailbox. Which even I can't get at." 

"Can you get us the shipping info?" 

"Yeah, let me copy it over. ...10:30pm tomorrow. Fifty of them coming in at O'Hare. Maximum security, and I'm sure you can guess who will be there." 

"What type of Boomers?" 

"Doberman." 

_"What?"_ Belladonna went pale.

"What status?"

"Active." 

"Shit. See if you can get the shutdown code." 

Shaine leaned back in the chair. "There is no shutdown code." 

"Damn. This is going to be a hard fight." 

"Like Genom would play fair!" 

"We've got a code red. Bell, call everyone and get Saki in a suit as well. I'll call Tokyo and see if we can get this thing grounded". 

"Do you want me to wake Jade, Crim?" 

"No. Standby only. Rika as well." 

"Shaine, do you have a tracking number for them?"

"Yeah... _S/N 29-0987-0924-2AIX ERIK KOHL_ I've got it. It's going to _him_." 

"I want both wings in the air, and...going to who?" 

Shaine's face was ashen. "What 'him' do you think I'm talking about? You _know_ who they're going to!" 

"Oh." 

She swore enthusiatically. "Gee, do you think he could use something smaller to look for you?" Belladonna asked. Shaine glared at her, and Bell smiled back.

"Okay, knock it off, Bell. Get to work. Shaine, I'm sorry." 

There was nothing but silence.

"Would you mind sleeping here tonight?" Crimson asked gently.

"No."

"Good. Let me show you to your room, then; we'll need to get some sleep tonight." 


	5. Beware of Dog

Beware of Dog

Beware of Dog  
_By Shaine and Shatterclaw. Individual rating: PG for language._

Shaine woke to see a raven - the one with the silver streak over its eye - standing on the clock next to her bed. It cawed at her. 

"Ugh... 'S too early..." 

The raven followed her into the bathroom. "You're as bad as that damned Boomer," she muttered.

_"Caw! Caw!"_

"Don't like that word, huh?" The raven flapped its wings. "Boomer, Boomer...Boomer, Boomer!" Shaine sang.

It flapped its wings, then flew out. Shaine shut the door behind it, then started washing her face. The bathroom was rather large, with fresh towels, soap, a toothbrush...everything she would need. Once she left it, she found clothes in the closet. They fit rather well.

The raven was sitting on her bed. "Caw!" She yawned.

There was a knock on the door...Bell. "Hi, um...breakfast is ready if you're hungry." 

"No, not really." 

"Oh. Okay. There's a meeting at 11, then weapons check at 12. Crimson would like you at both." 

"All right." 

"Cool. See you there?" 

Shaine closed the door again once Belladonna was gone, then turned on the TV. The raven sat next to her and stared intently as she began channel surfing.

Space Ghost was on. She smiled.

_"When I was a larvaaaae, I wanted to be the ALL-POWERFUL RULER OF THE UNIVERSE!!!" _

The raven tried to eat the image of Zorak.

_"Me, too!"_

_"And to have some gum." _

_"Zorak...do you even know what gum is?" _

_"Mmmm...no. But I want some!" _

It was getting late. She turned the TV off and went out, leaving the raven cawing angrily on her bed.

As Shaine entered the meeting room, she saw Belladonna and Saki, along with a few others she didn't recognize. Crimson walked over to his seat and banged a gavel on the wooden stand before him.

"Everyone have a seat." 

"Okay, first I'd like to introduce you to our new member, Shaine. She'll be the comm officer this trip out. On my left is Jinks, a founding member and our tech, also Belladonna's mother. Next to Jinks is Hugo, our pilot for today. Next to Hugo is Vicki. You know Saki and Bell. Next to Saki is Rai. He'll be flying Raven Two. Next to him is Sprocket. Now, the reason I have called you here. Tonight at 10:30 a plane with fifty Dobermans is coming to O'Hare...on active status." 

All of them reacted in some way...except Shaine, who just sat there stiffly.

"We are going to try to blow up the plane and then see what comes out. If we're lucky, we'll nail them. If not, we go in." 

"What about deactivation codes?" Vicki asked.

"There are none." All of them stared at Shaine.

"What? How do they plan on controlling them?" 

"This is Genom," Rai said. "They don't care."

"Okay," Crimson said. "We'll need heavy armor, and weapons. All of you need to check out your gear. Anything else?" 

"Motoslaves?" Hugo asked.

"Yes, five. We'll need all the help we can get." 

"What about calling in some favors from the ADP?" That was Vicki again.

"Negative. Whatever our friends over there owe us, would never cover this. We are it, people, if worse comes to worst we go to Plan Z but until then we have work to do." 

///

The trip to O'Hare went by quickly. The Wings hovered, searching for the plane, as Shaine picked out a very familiar car.

"Over there," she whispered.

Hugo looked and flipped some controls. "Thanks." He fired one of the Wing's guns, drawing a raven insignia on the top of Erik's car.

"Good evening, Bird of Prey, this is your captain speaking. Prepare to disembark." 

"We've got heating readings, Number One, will you double check?" 

"Roger, we have humans on the plane. Repeat, we have humans on the plane with the Boomers." 

"Okay, group. Change of plans. We have to get the humans out of there first. Shaine, get to work masking us and jamming their comms." 

"I'm on it." 

"Keep your eyes peeled for news crews...I don't like having my picture taken." 

"Okay, get ready!" The ones armed with pulse guns went first. Shaine followed as they jumped onto the plane. 

Vicki cut open a hole in the top, climbed through, then motioned for the rest to join her. Inside were fifty or sixty passengers, sleeping.

"Shaine, scan for emotions." 

"I've got something. It's bouncing back and forth." 

"Jam it, whatever it is, and we can lock and analyze it later. Jinks, Bell, check the passengers. Everyone else down to the hold." It was empty. "Damn it!" 

"Um, Boss?" Jinks said. "Do Dobermans have fusion?" 

Crimson looked at Shaine. "None that I know of." 

"Get out, we've got an unknown up here." 

Shaine heard a growling noise above her. "Look out!" She threw herself out of the way as a hardsuit broke through the ceiling. After the hardsuit came a creature which appeared to be a Doberman in human skin. The skin was ripping away from its body...

Shaine drew her laser sword and ripped through its shoulder. The Boomer reared its still flesh-covered head, the false skin pulled tight and the true face beneath struggling to break free.

"Get the core! Jinks, Bell, Sprocket, get out. Everyone else put this one down." 

The Boomer tried to fire at them, but the beam went wide and tore open the side of the plane. It turned its back to them, growing larger. Shaine used her sword again, leaving its head to hang by one artificial tendon. She saw a beam from an EMP gun hit the body, which then stopped moving.

"Let's move." On the way back to the Wing, Crimson beheaded another of the humans. Once there, Hugo fired the Wing's weapons and the plane exploded.

///

"What in _hell_..." The Genom employees quickly shut up as they saw the growing tension on Carter's face. "Erik." 

"Calm down, Vicky. Send in the rest, and we'll have a nice Raven pie for dinner...whoops, that's 'blackbirds' in the nursery rhyme, isn't it? Ah, well..." 

///

"Shaine, what happened to the core?" 

"I didn't see one." 

"Have you ever heard of a Boomer without a core?" 

"No." 

"Is it possible?" 

Shaine glared up at him. "I left Genom five years ago, and even then I didn't know all that they could do. I have no idea of what they're capable of now." 

"True," Crimson prodded, "But the basic working of all Boomers is the same. The core is its _mind_." 

"I'm no hardware expert, Crim." 

"We may have a bigger problem. Vicki, find out what the news is saying. Hugo, how long to--" 

The plane shook, and there was a tearing of metal. "Shit!" 

"Shaine, you're with me. Looks like we have an uninvited guest." Crimson headed for the top hatch...


	6. Fall or Fly

Fall or Fly

Fall or Fly  
_By Shaine and Shatterclaw. Individual rating: PG-13 for language, violence._

The small tunnel led upward, to the roof of the Raven's Wing. Shaine could see a flash of light as Crimson opened the hatch, and then he was pulled out of the tunnel. Shaine pulled herself up and found another malformed Doberman lunging at Crimson.

Unnerved, she started shooting. It was still covered in milky white human skin which was contracting around its body. One arm held Crimson by the neck, and the other was straining against the fleshy casing holding it down next to its body.

Shaine circled around the Boomer as it held Crimson up. Her metal boots clanged against the Wing, but it didn't seem to notice. It was too busy with Crimson.

She came up behind it and started slashing at its arm. Its eyes glowed red as it turned toward her. The arm broke free - and Crimson with it.

"Oh, shit!" 

The Boomer tried to rake her with the claws on its remaining arm. Shaine hurriedly brought her laser sword up again as she watched Crimson slide over the side of the plane.

_"CRIM!_"

///

Erik Kohl watched the activity on the Raven's Wing with great interest. The transmissions from the Boomers were still being jammed, so it was impossible to get too detailed of an idea about what was happening, but what he saw he liked.

"Mmmm...look at that little one up there. She's still going after it even though it got her partner." 

"What makes you say it's a woman? It could just be a small boy." Carter leaned up against him in a disturbing manner. "Do you _like_ boys? Tell me!" she whispered in his ear.

Erik stepped forward, forcing Carter to let go. Exquisite, he murmured confidently. He began to fantasize about what she looked like. Tiny and delicate, certainly, like Kathy had been. In fact, possibly a bit smaller.

His heart leapt into his throat as he imagined Shaine in a hardsuit. _No. That's perverse. Get that thought out of your mind..._

"I'm impressed. She fights rather well." 

"Well, then, if we can capture her alive I will leave her to you." Carter's tone was acerbic, but Erik immediately decided to hold her to her word.

///

The Boomer's remaining arm dug into Shaine's sword. She yanked it free, causing a gasoline-like spray to issue from the now-severed arm. "_Crimsoooooon!_" She quickly edged over to the spot where she'd last seen him.

At the edge of the plane was a small dagger, with a thin cable attached to it. "Help! Crimson went over the side!" 

"We'll send someone up," Hugo called.

"Hurry!" She turned back toward the Boomer. Fluid spurted from the stumps of its arms as it ran toward her. Standing her ground, she used her rail gun and waited for it to come within striking distance of her sword again.

The shots hit, and it slipped. Shaine sidestepped the Boomer as it came crashing toward her. She got in one last slash as it passed, and it fell over the wing with one less leg. _Just like the Black Knight from Monty Python and the Holy Grail..._

But there was no time for humor. "Where's Crimson?" Belladonna called.

"He fell off! He's hanging on my some sort of cable!" 

Bell walked over to Shaine and said, "I told him they were a good idea! Okay, grab on and we'll try to pull him up." As she reached for the line, a blast of energy hit the Wing. In the distance, Belladonna could see four dark shapes. The shapes flashed with light... "Damn! Mom, get up here!" 

She turned to Shaine. "Come on. They're going to chew him apart..." 

The pair began to lift Crimson up again. Shaine thought she could see him dangling on the end of the cable, but then Belladonna slipped and skidded to the edge. 

"Hang on, Bell!" Shaine pulled harder and managed to drag the girl up again. Not too long after, they were within feet of Crimson. 

"Watch out; more Dobermans are on their way..." 

A blast hit the side of the plane.

Belladonna held out another cable. Wrap this around your waist and see if you can grab him. The other end of the cable ran to her the arm of her hardsuit.

Shaine tied the cable around herself and walked to the edge. Crimson was trying to reach for the plane. She bend down and reached for him...

Their hands connected and she pulled him back up onto the Wing. Just then two Dobermans - _flying _Dobermans - landed on the wing.

"Thanks, Shaine." 

Another blast hit the wing and a Doberman flew headlong into Shaine. She skidded, then landed on top of Belladonna and Crimson.

"Ow, ow, ow..." Bell whined.

"Sorry." 

"I'd ask the Boomer to apologize..." It was towering over her. The Doberman opened its mouth just as Shaine thrust her sword toward it, and the Boomer's head exploded, taking the top half of the sword with it.

The body thrashed around on the Wing, heading for the jet fans. It held up an arm and fired. "Oh, _shit_..." Shaine whispered as the fans began to smoke.

Crimson and Belladonna got back up. "Bell, right, Shaine, left. Hit them with the daggers. We'll pull him back. Now!" Crimson shouted, then threw his own daggers. The jet fan exploded, incinerating one of the Dobermans.

The Wing tilted to one side, beginning to bank, and veered off towards the woods below.

"Cut the lines and grab on; we're going to crash!" 

Shaine managed to find a handhold on a plate as the Wing fell. It hit hard, knocking over trees and kicking up dirt, roots, rocks...anything in its path. 

She blacked out.

///

"Crim, you all right?" 

His hands went to one leg, and he winced. "Think I have a broken bone. I'll survive. Check on the others." 

Shaine quickly found Belladonna lying outside the plane, shaken but with nothing worse than bruises. She then went back into the Wing. Compartments were broken open, equipment was tossed everywhere...

"Are you all right?" 

Hugo grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about the ride, Shaine." 

She laughed. It wasn't a normal laugh, Hugo thought. Odd. A low _heh, heh, heh_ that seemed to be just air chuffing its way out of a throat that no longer knew how to speak. "It's what we get for choosing Genom Airlines." 

"Remind me to fire my travel agent..." 

"No kidding." 

"Did you save the boss?" 

"Yeah. Looks like he's got a broken leg, but he'll be okay." 

"Bummer. Now I got to carry him" 

"Better you than me, Hugo!" Shaine called as she walked over to the three unconscious figures still strapped into their seats.

"Oh, you'll get your turn..." Hugo threatened.

_"Hey,_ lazy! Wake up!" Shaine shook Jinks's shoulder. 

Jinks opened her eyes. "I want coffee...aspirin..." she whispered, "And then his pilot's license." 

"I'll see what I can do." Shaine walked over to the others, who quickly responded. Saki gasped for breath, pale and sweaty, as she pulled off her helmet.

"Hook up to their suits and see how badly they're hurt. I'll break out the Motoslaves." 

They were battered, but fine. Saki's heart was racing but there was nothing else wrong with her. Vicki had a mild concussion.

"Hey, I think I see the others!" Belladonna called from the roof. Shaine climbed up with her and Bell pointed. "See? Over there, about a mile and a half. Just above the trees. Ten bucks says that's one of ours." 

"And another ten says Genom's already on their way..." 

"Yeah, we better get moving." Bell hopped down off of the wing.

Hugo was just bringing out the first of the Motoslaves. "Have you ever ridden one of these?" 

"No." 

"Ever ridden a motorcycle?" 

"No. Too 'undignified.' " She wrinkled up her nose.

"You'll have to double up with me, then." 

"All right. Let me go get Crim." 

///

Shaine held on tight as the Motoslave sped through the woods. Suddenly, an explosion behind her rocked the ground.

"Shaine, check to see if anyone is talking about us yet." 

"I'm getting a scrambled signal, plus police and ATC. ATC reports two downed craft, unknown military." 

"Can you unscramble the signal?" 

"Maybe...give me a minute." She frowned. "Private signal...says 'we have them.' Helicopters less than forty-five minutes away." 

_Quincy wants them alive..._

She froze. It was Erik's voice. "Someone named Quincy wants us alive." 

"How long to the Wing?" 

"Less than five minutes," Hugo said. "Hopefully we can get it to fly, or at least salvage the Motoslaves. In which case, we can hold off anything they throw at us." 

"Shaine, did they say what kind of force we're up against?" 

"Shaine, you okay?" Bell seemed worried.

"I... Yeah, I'm fine." Her voice was stiff and distant.

"Cool. Carter is _pissed!_" Bell giggled.

Just then they came to the wreck of the second Raven's Wing. It had been torn in two.

"Hope no one minds walking," Hugo muttered.

Shaine walked up to the hatch. "Hand over whatever Galaxy you may be carrying, step away from your busted-ass spaceship and put your hands on her head!" she called. Moments later, Jinks helped Rai out of the ship, the two of them carrying a Motoslave.

"He's fine, but can't get his suit servos to work right, she explained." Rai grinned at Shaine.

"Okay. Mount up, everyone. We're going to have to travel as fast as we can. The city is about 27 miles away, Genom and a few others will be looking for us...so we're going to have to be careful." 

"Man, this sucks. Belladonna said. I bet the bad guys have a nice, warm car to ride in..." 

Shaine stiffened up.

"Heyyyyy, wait! They got choppers! Why don't we wait and ambush one of their choppers? You know, like hide in the trees. Like in the movie with that Schwarzenegger dude? You know, the one with the ugly monster in the jungle!" 

"Yes, Bell. Let's hide in the trees and wait for my uncle to come." 

_"Huh?"_

"He's with them," Shaine whispered. "I heard him." 

"Oh. We're not going to be able to ask for a ride, then, huh?" 

"Too bad. It's a nice car." 

"Man, this suuuuucks..." 

The others finished rigging a bomb to the jet, and the Ravens took off toward the highway with their cloaks on.

///

Shaine held her breath as she slipped past the blockade. Erik was there...

"How could you mess up a simple delivery?" Carter screeched.

"It's not my fault that your men were late. If they'd simply followed orders and been on time, we could have had the Ravens and that woud have _more_ than made up for the inconvenience." 

_"Our_ men weren't late. The timetable for the plane was pushed up." 

"Also not my fault." 

Carter began to wonder if he hadn't planned it...lured the Ravens there intentionally... "Those new Boomers were to have been field tested first." 

"We can always get more. How often does a chance come up to capture or destroy the Steel Ravens?" 

Her cell phone began to ring. "If that was the Ravens. Reports of new groups are popping up all over. Seems like no matter where we step, there's another bug beneath our feet... Hello? Yes...yes, sir...no, we had some trouble." 

"You know," Erik whispered, just outside of the phone's pickup range, "Vicky...one of these days you are going to open up your myopic little eyes and see what's _really_ going on in this city. And on that day...maybe I'll be grateful that you just barely edged me out...after Sansweet was forced to resign." 

She cast him a cold stare. "No, sir. We have two of their planes down and we hope to have them rounded up by morning." 

Erik laughed.

"Yes, sir." Carter smiled slowly. "Yes, I'll put my top man on it. I'm sure he'll be able to find them. He has been known to get things done..." 

"I'm flattered, Carter." 

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." She snapped the phone shut and turned to Erik.

"Let me guess. It's my mess now." 

"No, dear, it was always your mess. I just made it look a lot cleaner than it really was." 

"Hah." 

"Well, if your mind was on what you were doing instead of chasing after your family, you might have had the Ravens captured already. Twenty-four hours, Erik. And darling...if you do capture them, don't try to rape any of them before you hand them over to Quincy, hmmm?" 

The first sentence struck him so powerfully that he didn't hear the rest of it at all. "Don't. Ever. Talk. To. Me. Like. That. About. Her. Again." 

Carter simply laughed and walked away.

A voice came over the radio: _"We found one of the planes, sir...they were rigged with some kind of explosive. We lost almost the whole team. ...Sir?"_

"Shut up." 

Erik walked away.


	7. Zero Sum

Zero Sum

Zero Sum  
_By Shaine and Shatterclaw. Individual rating: PG for language._

After passing the blockade, the Ravens stopped in a nearby small town. Crimson paid a local farmer for the use of his barn - and silence - and Jinks had taken Vicki in to town with her to buy some new clothing for the group. 

Crimson sat on a bale of hay nursing his leg and Rai was out cold, snoring lightly. Bell sat playing with a tennis ball she'd found.

"Free falling..." she muttered in a singsong voice. Her head snapped up and she looked at Shaine. "Free falling..." 

She stood up and pointed. "That's it! We'll call you Freefall!" 

"Gee, thanks" 

"Well, I _could _have called you...um...Nosedive? Tanker?" 

"Niece of Satan?" Shaine snarled.

"Um...gee, I don't know. It kind of has to get out all in one breath." She grinned...and went back to bouncing the ball.

Shaine, pointedly ignoring Belladonna, began to rub at a sore spot on her back. She mentally thanked the gods that she'd never had back problems like her parents.

"What, do you want me to kiss it? 'Cause I don't do that." 

"Ugh." Shaine winced.

"Man, this bites...but at least we can crash for a few hours." 

"Bell, go check on the recharging," Crim said. He sat up as she went over to look at the hardsuits. "Don't let her get to you; she can be a brat at best but she's a good kid..." 

"Yeah," Shaine replied glumly.

"Just don't leave money laying around...you'll do fine.." 

"As long as you don't play cards, dice, or pool - or gamble - anywhere within fifteen feet of her!" Rai added. 

"Rai, go back to sleep," Crimson ordered. Then he turned back to Shaine. "How far do you think they'll look for us?" 

"After what we just did?" 

"I assume they'll go from town to town all the way back to Chicago." 

"I think I heard Carter tell _him_ to take care of it personally while we were passing the blockade. And she mentioned me. I doubt he'll be civilized about it." 

"Then at best we have until midday until some form of Genom is on top of us... Genom wants us whole. The hardsuits they can copy and resell, and they'll use us for brain wave patterns for the next crop of Boomers. Then they'll kill us. That's always been a given...what we need to know is how far and how long will Erik keep looking in these woods - or will he be smart and try to catch us while we're on the move?" 

"I'd never accuse him of not being smart." 

"True." Crimson frowned. "Bell!" 

"Yeah, what?" 

"How long?" 

"Hard to say. The suits are at about half, which means we can use cloaks, but not full weapons. Maybe rails, one or two shots, but no swords and no charge dagger. Definitely no memory backup. Does this guy have 110-watt lines?" 

"Doesn't matter. We'll have to move at half if we wear the suits at all."

"What? No, not again! I just broke mine in!" Shaine mentally assigned the voice to the body of Sailor Moon and had to keep herself from laughing. _Waaaah! Luna, what do I do now??_

Belladonna ran back over to Crimson. "Come on, we can make it if we cloak and ride hard. We're only what, an hour and a half from Site B? We could make it there, and hit the tram and be home for dinner. Right, Shaine!?" She bit her lip impatiently.

"I don't know. I keep trying to tell you that I'm no expert. I fix computers. I hack. I keep networks running on barely nothing. I just don't know about Genom. Or the Ravens." 

Belladonna deflated. "But if you could find a fast way away from here you'd take it, wouldn't you?" 

"Hell yes. You shouldn't have to ask." 

Belladonna turned toward Crimson. "See!" 

"Points taken and noted." 

Saki walked into the barn carrying a large bag. "We're in luck: the locals believe in their NRA memberships. I couldn't find full autos, but we can convert what we have to use with them. And I found an Earthshaker collector..." She brought out the huge handgun. "He agreed to trade for some of the ones I have." 

Rai grinned. "Woman has more weapons in her room than we have in the entire operation... Shaine, when we get back, ask her about her spike trench knives." 

"We should have given him to Carter," Saki said. "He would have made her commit suicide..."

"I love you too, Xena." 

"Wake me when the others get back," Crimson said. "We'll go then." 

///

"We're back!" Sprocket called. "You still alive?" 

"Wake Crimson," Saki told Shaine. She went to the barn door.

"Crim!" 

He sat straight up and looked at her. "I'm up." 

Just then Sprocket screamed. Shaine jumped up and turned toward the door, just in time to see Saki put a rather large gun away.

"Damn! I even called out this time!" 

Jinks, Sprocket, and Vicki walked in with a large shopping bag. "No luck on civvies. What they have would make us stick out even farther."

"Walmart's too far away to get to," Vicki added.

"Well, then," Crimson said. "Here's the situation: our friends are going to tear this place apart looking for us. Even with satellite jamming, we'll still be tracked here. Site B is two hours away. While the farm is toasted, the tube will still run and we can get there. Call the train, and be back by nightfall. Our suits are at a little better than half power. Getting there will have to be on full cloak if we don't want to fight...we don't have enough for both. So it's a vote. Flee, or fight." 

"I take it Saki found weapons that we can use?" Jinks asked.

"Yes." 

"We flee. If we have weapons we can use, then we can make it to Site B." 

"Flee, no. I prefer seeking higher ground, but yeah, I'm in..." 

"Saki?" 

"Flee." 

Rai pointed to his leg. " 'Kay, I'm cargo!"

"Shaine?" Bell asked.

Shaine stared at the floor for a long time. It looked like she wanted to hold her ground and take Genom on head-to-head, but there was something else in her expression. 

Fear? Doubt? 

Resignation?

"Run," she whispered.

Zane came huffing in. "Good, 'cause I just heard the cops. They're on their way here, or at least headed in this direction..." 

///

Shaine clung to the back of Saki's Motoslave as the group headed down a small country road. The town had closed for the night a long time ago, and there were few others awake and moving.

"This is too quiet," Saki complained.

"Welcome to country life, Xena." 

The road turned to follow a river, then became a long, flat highway. There were only one or two cars visible on that stretch of the road.

"Keep your eyes peeled. State Police may be looking for us, or a bike gang. Don't fire back unless you have to, and don't hurt them. They're just doing their jobs. Shaine, anything on the airwaves?" 

"Freefall, boss! She's Freefall now!" 

Crimson chuckled. "Okay, what do you read, Freefall?" 

"I've got an APB out on a 'biker gang' that killed ten people. Wearing black armor, on black bikes, possibly with trenchcoats. Gee, I wonder who that could be?" 

_Tower, this is G-126, we are expanding the search pattern to 500 miles...now coming to a highway..._

"Some sort of aircraft is looking for us. They're coming to the highway!" 

"Rai, what do you think?" 

"Well, it's dark and there's heavy air cover. Cloudy. I say we hit offroad, and take that overpass there..."

"Okay, people. Get ready to go offroad. Be careful jumping the barriers; we don't want to let anyone know we're here unless we have to." 

Saki hit the gas, and the bike went speeding forward. The crash barrier was up ahead and she went at it at about 90mph. The bike was about to hit when there was a loud _snap-hiss_ from behind the riders, and the airborne nitro thrusters kicked in. The bike jumped into the air, sailing about nine feet off of the ground, and came back down halfway up the embankment of the overpass. Out of the corner of her eye, Shaine could see the other Motoslaves following.

Suddenly Belladonna cried out over the helmet-comm. Shaine's head whipped around as Bell's Motoslave ran into a semi, becoming embedded in the fender. The truck screeched to a stop, but still wobbled badly, dragging the Motoslave with it. Bell was hanging onto the side of the truck, her left foot pinned to the Motoslave.

_"Stop!_ Bell's been hit!" 

Saki looked back, then pulled a hair turn. Shaine was nearly thrown from the back of the Motoslave. "Get your sword ready." She gunned the bike, heading for the truck.

"Half of it got busted off my those damned Boomers." 

"What?" 

"On the roof of the Wing! One of the Boomers exploded and my sword was right in the middle of it when it happened." 

She swore under her breath. "Use your rail gun, then. Blast the base of her boot." 

Shaine fired, and the boot exploded. The Motoslave zipped past the truck.

Saki turned the bike again. "This time, I need you to grab her. I am going to do something very foolish..." 

Shaine reached out as they passed the truck again. Bell jumped and made it to the back of the bike.

"Hold on!" The bike shot up into the air again, sailing for a few feet and landing not far from the other Ravens. It wobbled, forcing Saki to fight to bring it under control again. "Get off, both of you!" 

Shaine and Belladonna jumped off. Saki brought the bike to a stop, then revved the engine and tore off toward the truck again. The bike began to change, with the wheels folding out and the center engulfing Saki. She jumped, landing on the side of the truck. 

Saki tore the bike free, then tried to stop the truck from tipping over. By that time, a few of the others had rushed over to help her.

_We've found them..._

"They see us!" Shaine gasped.

One of the hardsuited figures pulled a long gun from a holster on its back, then jumped on top of the truck. "Go. I'll give them something to do..." 

Saki ran toward Shaine and Bell, her Motoslave transforming back into a bike. She picked the two of them up. The others fell back, three of them likewise returning their Motoslaves to bike form.

"Can you drive?" Saki asked.

"A car, sure...one of these? The semi? I have no idea." 

"Good, then it can't get any worse." She spun the bike around and gunned for the truck. The Motoslave shot upward and landed on the roof behind the Raven/robot. "Get down in the cab. Take Bell with you. Start it up and drive." 

The driver's cabin was cramped, with Shaine and Belladonna still in their hardsuits and the truck's unconscious (not to mention very large) driver lying between them. It lurched forward with crunching and grinding noises as Shaine attempted to steer.

Soon it was moving...but it still tended toward the side where Belladonna's Motoslave had hit. Gunfire exploded around it as Shaine desperately tried to compensate. It was hard, but she managed to keep it going fairly straight. 

A helicopter pulled up alongside it, with a chaingun pointed straight at the cabin. Belladonna tried to stand up, but fell. 

"Bell, what are you _doing_?" 

"I can't get a shot at it," she gasped. "Between my foot and the truck..." 

Saki jumped to the hood of the trunk and opened fire on the gunner in the helicopter. Twin streaks of light shot from her hand. The helicopter shook, but still kept pace with the truck.

"Both of you, fire on my mark. ....Now!" 

The chaingun exploded in a plume of smoke and fire. The helicopter dropped back, then overtook the truck, cutting in front of it. Belladonna aimed from her side and fired three times. The helicopter banked to the side and into an overpass, the sound of gunfire still ringing out around the truck as bullets hit.

The truck shook. One of the volleys had hit the hood.

Saki leapt to the side by Belladonna and held on to the door. Another explosion rocked the truck and Shaine could see a helicopter fly off with smoke tailing badly. 

A black bike appeared in front of the truck. "I think we took care of that batch. How bad is the truck handling? Do you think you can drive it for a few more miles?" 

"It's hard...but I can do it." 

"All right," Crimson said. "Then pull over first, so everyone can get in." 

Belladonna hopped in back with the others and the still-insensate driver, while Crimson took her place next to Shaine. The trip was mostly silent, with the occasional sound of the radio as Crimson played with it, turning it on and off.

"Over there. At that truck stop." He pointed to an overpass ahead.

The truck lurched to a stop. Crimson set the driver back in his seat, then searched him. He pulled out a wallet, a knife, some change...he opened the wallet and pulled out the man's driver's license. He looked at it for a while, then put everything back as it had been. He then repeated the procedure with the glovebox, slid five $1000 bills into the driver's front pocket, and locked the doors while leaving the window open a crack.

"The driver's alive. Mild head injury; we'll call for paramedics once we're out of here." 

For the first time, Shaine could see how bad the truck was. There were bullet holes streaked across the side and back, some as large as her arm. The back door was gone; in its place were ragged edges. The others pulled five Motoslaves from the back of the truck; all were damaged.

"Gee, after all that work we had done to them...the wax, the buffing, my detailing job...I spent hours on this bike! Think I can bill someone for it?" Rai joked.

///

After riding for about twenty minutes more, the group came to an old, broken-down building. Whatever it had once been, it was now only an unrecognizable and moss-covered heap surrounded by a weed-covered field. A lean-looking man sat in front of it, a raven on his shoulder and his clothing straight out of a bad western.

Shaine and Jinks took the bikes into a broken shed next to the building while Vicki walked to the center and dusted something off. She then poked at the ground, producing a deep rumbling from underneath the building. The ground began to shake.

A large metal tube rose from the ground. It looked like a freight elevator. Rai and Belladonna were helped in, then the battered Motoslaves followed. When the elevator's doors opened again, it was onto a large subway-like platform.

At the end of the platform was a black and silver train with three cars. The first one was painted with a ravenlike face, a tongue sticking out of the beak at an angle.

"The good ol' nine-o-nine," Sprocket said fondly. "This hasn't been used in years. I wonder if Sis can still drive it!" 

The Ravens seated themselves in the second car, which was filled with overstuffed seats and had a mini-bar near the far end.

Rai looked at Shaine. "Relax and have a seat," he offered. "We have an open wet bar, with out-of-date drinks. But I hear the powdered Tang may still be good." 

"Sorry," Belladonna called. "Out of Tang." 

"What about Gatorade?" 

"Um, sorry, fresh out." 

"Any antelope?"

"Huh?" 

"Hippo?" 

"Nope." 

"So what do we have left?" 

"Ten year old Coke," Bell replied proudly. "And I think some beer nuts. Or raven droppings, not sure which." 

Shaine could see Crimson and Saki outside the window, standing with the oddly dressed man. Crimson seemed to ask a question, and the man shook his head. The elevator doors closed and the pair walked over to the train. 

"This is your Captain speaking," Hugo called over the loudspeaker. "We will be taking off shortly and unlike our last ride we will have smooth sailing.

"One final note...please make sure all pets are safely strapped down, and we ask you at Raven's Railways not to feed the Dobermans..." 


End file.
